As part of the Covid-19 tax relief, President Ramaphosa announced a carbon tax stimulus relief, which entails delaying the filing and first payment of carbon tax by three months.

The relief defers the submission of annual carbon tax accounts and the payment of carbon tax for the period ended 31 December 2019 to 31 October 2020. This should provide additional time for affected taxpayers to complete the first return as well as allowing cash flow relief in the short term.

The carbon tax relief was not included in the Disaster Management Tax Relief Bill or the Disaster Management Tax Relief Administration Bill published to date but will rather be governed by the Customs and Excise Act Rules published by SARS.

As of 31 October 2020, taxpayers liable for Carbon Tax must submit an environmental levy account and make payments of the carbon tax in accordance with the Customs and Excise Rules for each tax period, including -

• a consolidated annual account on the prescribed DA 180 form in respect of each licensed emissions generation facility registered to that licensee that calculates the environmental levy in accordance with Rule 54FD.03;
• a consolidated payment for the total environmental levy liability ; and
• any other supporting documents the Commissioner may request.

The delay of filing and first payment of the carbon tax will help a number of taxpayers who have also experienced administrative delays with carbon tax registrations.

Written by Shirleen Ritchie, Nirvasha Singh for Webber Wentzel