| (1) | Every employer must pay a skills development levy— |
(a)
| (i) | from 1 April 2000, at a rate of 0,5 per cent of the leviable amount; and |
| (ii) | from 1 April 2001, at a rate of one per cent of the leviable amount; or |
| (b) | at a rate as the Minister may announce in the national annual budget contemplated in section 27(1) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999), with effect from a date mentioned in that Announcement. |
| (2) | If the Minister makes the announcement contemplated in subsection (1)(b), that rate comes into effect on the date determined by the Minister in that announcement and continues to apply for a period of 12 months from that date subject to Parliament passing legislation giving effect to that announcement with that period of 12 months. |
| (3) | For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), but subject to subsection (4), the leviable amount means the total amount of remuneration, paid or payable, or deemed to be paid or payable, by an employer to its employees during any month, as determined in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act for the purposes of determining the employer’s liability for any employees’ tax in terms of that Schedule, whether or not such employer is liable to deduct or withhold such employees’ tax. |
| (4) | The amount of remuneration referred to in subsection (3) does not include any amount— |
| (a) | paid or payable to any person contemplated in paragraphs (c) and (d) of the definition of ‘employee’ in paragraph 1 of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, to whom a certificate of exemption has been issued in terms of paragraph 2(5)(a) of that Schedule; |
| (b) | paid or payable to any person by way of any pension, superannuation allowance or retiring allowance; |
| (c) | contemplated in paragraph (a), (d), (e) or (eA) of the definition of ‘gross income’ in section 1 of the Income Tax Act; |
| (d) | payable to a learner in terms of a contract of employment contemplated in section 18(3) of the Skills Development Act. |
| (5) | Despite subsection (1), on the request of a SETA, the Minister may, in consultation with the Minister of Finance and by notice in the Gazette, determine from time to time a rate and basis for the calculation of a levy payable by employers within the jurisdiction or a part of the jurisdiction of a SETA, different from the rate and basis contemplated in subsection (1)(a) or (b), but subject to subsection (7). |
| (6) | The rate and basis determined in a notice in terms of subsection (5) may not have the result that the amount of the levies collected by virtue of such notice is less than the amount of the levies which would have been collected, based on the rate and basis contemplated in subsection (1)(a) or (b). |
| (7) | The Minister may, in consultation with the Minister of Finance, determine criteria for purposes of any determination contemplated in subsection (5). |
| (8) | The notice referred to in subsection (5) must contain— |
| (a) | the rate and basis for the calculation of the levy; |
| (b) | the date on which the levy becomes payable; |
| (c) | a description of the employers falling within the jurisdiction of the SETA or part of the jurisdiction of the SETA in respect of which the levy is payable; and |
| (d) | any other matter necessary to ensure the effective collection of the levy. |
[Section 3 substituted by section 88(1) of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2017 (Act No. 17 of 2017)]
