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The National Assembly yesterday gave the green light for South Africans, who broke tax and foreign exchange laws by illegally stashing funds offshore, to bring the money home.

This was despite the Democratic Alliance abstaining from voting on the Exchange Control Amnesty and Amendment of Taxation Laws Bill, and concerns raised by the African Christian Democratic Party.

The measure will allow individuals, closed corporations and trusts to apply, between June 1 and November 30 this year, for amnesty from civil and criminal prosecution for illegally moving money abroad in the past.

The amnesty is also open to a small class of "facilitators", such as wholly owned companies, who actively assisted individuals to shift funds offshore.

DA finance spokeswoman Raenette Taljaard said her party supported the principle of an amnesty, but did not believe the bill would achieve its goals.

"We believe that the system that has been designed to give effect to the amnesty process itself is problematic".

It discriminated against companies because they could not apply, while individuals, close corporations and trusts could.

"Facilitators will be eligible. Advisers not. And so with the discrimination among categories of eligible applicants the concerns arise".

Despite reassurances, the exclusion of companies could face a constitutional challenge, she said.

Closing the debate, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel rejected Taljaard's arguments, saying it would be wrong to give amnesty to companies that broke foreign exchange and tax laws, and provisions under the Companies Act, while others had operated legally.

"What we cannot countenance is a situation where we merely write off for those companies that have been involved in transfer pricing.

"It is wrong, it remains wrong and we are not going to bring them into this or the next amnesty".

The minister said he doubted whether any company would be foolish enough to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court.

Gavin Woods of the Inkatha Freedom Party said his party supported the amnesty and the bill.

However, one would not be completely sure if the conditions were sufficient to coax people to bring their money back until the process was complete, he said.

The ACDP's Adriaan Blaas supported the bill, but questioned whether it would succeed in motivating people to declare unauthorised assets.

"The bill will, in effect, catch a few transgressors that may get nervous, but those who have done their calculations may be reluctant to repatriate their assets," he said.

In terms of the bill, individuals must apply to an amnesty unit, made up of representatives from the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and SA Reserve Bank (SARB), giving details of funds held outside South Africa and a declaration that the money was not earned through unlawful means.

The members of the unit will be bound by secrecy provisions and information may not be used for investigation.

Those wishing to repatriate assets will be charged a five per cent levy, while applicants choosing, rather, to keep the money offshore will pay a 10% charge.

The amnesty will also cover transgressions of some domestic taxes, income tax, donations tax, secondary tax on companies and estate duty, to the extent these related to foreign assets.

The domestic tax violation comes at a price of a levy of two per cent of the undisclosed amount.

The bill should be approved by the National Council of Provinces next week, and will be sent to President Thabo Mbeki the following day, just in time for the six-month window period to kick in. – Sapa.

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