LexisNexis Event Launch

EVENT | BRITISH CHAMBER LEXISNEXIS – EXPATRIATE TAX BOOK LAUNCH

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The event will also include the launch of one of South Africa’s most important pieces of literature, the newly released LexisNexis title, Expatriate Tax: South African Citizens Working Abroad and Foreigners in South Africa, which is authored by Tax Consulting South Africa.

The guide was described by Judge DM Davis, perhaps the most esteemed tax expert on the Bench today, as “a carefully considered book which not only deals with all the various tax implications of immigration/emigration but even has space for a useful chapter on work permits.”

Leon Ayo, President of the British Chamber in South Africa, will be the event MC, while Jerry’s presentation will cover:

  1. The submission to parliament on behalf of South Africa expatriates
  2. The amended expatriate tax law
  3. Future planning opportunities for South African expatriates
  4. Practical examples of how to deal with SARS and manage tax risk
  5. Expatriate tax in South Africa
  6. Dealing with concerns surrounding South African citizenship

This is a must attend for all international taxpayers, expatriates, HR and financial managers, specialist tax advisors, financial managers, tax lecturers or scholars of tax.

Tax Consulting is the largest fully independent tax practice in South Africa with over 90 talented professionals, mostly admitted attorneys, chartered accountants, tax specialists and international mobility professionals. The work reflects their approach to taxation matters, which is holistic, technical and, above all, result-driven. They have an appetite for challenging and complex matters, where they seek to deliver the most tax efficient outcome to their clients, whilst being fully compliant.

The practice’s market position is reflective of a ‘modern tax suite’, where they often work for law firms, accountants or providers who require clinical execution. Their professionals deal with all areas of South African taxation including rebutting overly conservative external audit findings, SARS rulings, SARS disputes and litigation, SARS refunds and holding SARS to account for interest on delayed refunds, tax due diligences, Voluntary Disclosure Programme applications, fixing heritage tax matters left in disarray by previous tax advisors, as well as a the normal consulting and compliance services on corporate taxes, executive and employee taxes, high net worth families and businesses, international expansion or foreign groups into South Africa, VAT, customs and excise, as well as tax administrative law.

EXTENSIVE GUIDE ON SOUTH AFRICAN WORK PERMITS IN LATEST LEXISNEXIS EXPATRIATE TAX PUBLICATION

The first of its kind in South Africa, the title addresses the complexities of expatriate taxes from a South African perspective in a manner that speaks to both the tax specialist and the concerned taxpayer. Expatriate Tax provides a comprehensive, technical and practical guide to South African tax and deals with aspects of international mobility, including work visa strategies, citizenship, retirement funding, international remuneration, international share schemes, and exchange control considerations.

 

 

JOHANNESBURG (FULLY BOOKED)
WHEN: Wednesday, 30 October 2019 – 17:00 – 20:00
WHERE: Inanda Club, The Club House, Inanda, Sandton

CAPE TOWN (LIMITED TICKETS)
WHEN: Thursday, 7 November 2019 – 08:00 – 11:00
WHERE: The Brasserie at the Stack, Cape Town

 

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NEWS | HOME AFFAIRS STARTS A NEW CHAPTER WITH IMPROVED VISA PROCESS

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However, according to Moeketsi Seboko, Immigration Manager at Xpatweb, those accounts are overdramatized and outdated. “In the wake of the Department’s 2017 White Paper on International Migration for South Africa, we have been seeing good progress towards a simpler yet secure visa application and fulfilment system,” he says.

Improvements

Already, a number of notable improvements to South Africa’s visa regime are being launched, as announced recently by Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

These are aimed at making the country more accessible to visitors, investors, and people with critical skills that are vital to building the economy.

For critical skills, the Department has lowered visa turnaround times to under four weeks in 88.5% of applications. Business and general work visas are now issued within eight weeks for 98% of applications.

Visas for visitors from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and New Zealand were waived last month.

Now, visa requirements for countries such as China and India, which are major sources for tourism to South Africa, have also been simplified.

Further, Home Affairs has located visa services at various investment agencies around the country to provide easier access to visa applicants and holders.

Best of all, the Department will embark on a pilot project for its new e-visa system in November, which allows applications to be made online, instead of requestors having to visit a South African mission in their home country.

Security the first priority

Although the nation has an open border policy, protecting the safety and security of South African citizens comes first, and this is the core concern when developing entrance requirements or systems.

The Immigration Act is clear in its preamble that visas and permanent residence permits (PRP) are issued as expeditiously as possible.

This is done on the basis of a simplified procedure and objective, predictable and reasonable requirements and criteria, and without consuming excessive administrative capacity. Security considerations must be fully satisfied and the state must retain control over immigration of visitors to the Republic.

Prescribed requirements and due process need to be adhered to, and foreigner nationals have a duty to improve and benefit the economy of the country and to not disadvantage South Africans seeking employment.

“Globally, there is no immigration policy that gives investors an automatic right to a visa,” says Seboko.

Assisting Home Affairs

It is the responsibility of every immigration practitioner to ensure their services are geared towards supporting government policies, especially the promotion of economic growth.

They should assist corporates and executives to bring foreign nationals with needed expertise into the country, provided they align with the critical skills list and conform to various work visa requirements.

Xpatweb is currently running their 2019 Critical Skills Survey among its clients and other corporates, the results of which will be shared with the Department for consideration, and which has been widely quoted and used by other Government departments for informed decision making on market perception.

In conclusion, Seboko says: “It has been our experience that the Department is receptive to engagements and inputs from role players in the industry. Like any other government department, red tape and bottlenecks are frustrating but with patience and persistence, positive outcomes are always achieved.”

Training Artisans and Process Controllers

NEWS | TRAINING ARTISANS AND PROCESS CONTROLLERS

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One of the biggest issues plaguing the country, apart from the unemployment rate, is the lack of skilled employees in the workforce. Employed citizens are sometimes placed in positions without having the skills to perform the job adequately. A call for training has been made and Artisans in Motion (AiM) is an institution that is ready to listen.

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NEWS | HOME AFFAIRS TO TRIAL NEW E-VISA SYSTEM IN NOVEMBER

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Speaking to BusinessTech, Department of Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza said that the pilot aims to test the resilience of the system, with the department already holding successful trials in a controlled environment.

“The pilot will be conducted with Kenya first at the OR Tambo and Lanseria airports,” he said. “At the end of the month, we will evaluate the project and look at which other countries to expand the e-visa system to.”

Qoza added that the system is quick and has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible.

He estimated that the entire application process would take around 20 minutes, provided the applicant has all of the necessary supporting documents ready for submission.

Should one of the required documents be missing, applicants can resume the process exactly where they left off at a later date, he said.

E-gates

Qoza also confirmed that Home Affairs was working with the Aiport Company South Africa (Acsa) to pilot e-gates at the country’s airports.

While Qoza was hesitant to confirm when the these systems would be introduced, Home Affairs said in April that the e-gates would be introduced in a phased approach.

“The broad objective of the project is the facilitation of movement of low-risk travellers through a self-service solution, hence freeing capacity for the assessment of high-risk categories by an immigration officer,” the department said.

“In line with the risk-based approach to managing migration, the first phase will focus on South African passport holders (excluding minors).”

With the e-gates pilot at Cape Town International Airport, South African passport holders travelling internationally will proceed to e-gates for self-service immigration clearance where the following would be performed:

  • Biometric verification;
  • Passport authenticity and validity checks;
  • Checks against the BMCS risk engine; and
  • The BMCS will record the movements of persons on the system after all system checks have been successfully performed.

Home Affairs said that the e-gates project will help address the key issue of traveller identification management, which is at the heart of secure and facilitated travel.

Source: BusinessTech

Realise your human capital potential

NEWS | REALISE YOUR HUMAN CAPITAL POTENTIAL

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However, a lack of critical skills needed for a high-growth economy in today’s digital world threatens South Africa’s economic revitalisation. A recent critical skills survey by Xpatweb shows that the IT, engineering, finance and health sectors suffer from a shortage of skills.

“IT specialists and engineers are at the top of the list of critically short skills, confirming our long-held belief that investing in training is an investment in your company’s future competitiveness,” says Tebogo Makagatho, CEO of Netcampus. “Our growing curriculum of courses reflects our vision of providing both business and government with a flexible way to upskill their IT staff, particularly in the vital area of cyber security.”

Denial of service, malware, data breaches and now ransomware are just some of the common security challenges facing organisations.

As business and government move increasingly online, criminals are following them. Cisco estimates that 31% of organisations have experienced cyber attacks on operational technology infrastructure, Symantec estimates that some 24 000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily, and the average number of breached records by country was 24 089. Website attacks increased by 59% in 2018.

Getting to grips with cyber security

“The statistics are frightening, and small businesses are as vulnerable as corporates. The ability to protect, detect and respond to cyber threats is now a critical success factor – organisations that lack this capability will not be sustainable,” says Westley van Straten, technology lead and senior trainer at Netcampus. “Ensuring your employees – end-users in addition to technical staff – have the necessary cyber security skills is the only way to counter this challenge.”

Netcampus was recently named an Accredited Training Centre for ECCouncil, a globally leading cyber security credentialing body. EC-Council is the owner and developer of the Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH). Its certification programmes are recognised globally by, the United States Federal Government (via the Montgomery GI Bill), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS).

Van Straten says that the C|EH certification is one of the most high-rated information security training programmes because of the insight it provides into the advanced hacking tools and techniques used by cyber criminals.Most importantly, the C|EH training program provides excellent lab access for students to gain vital practical skills in how to protect against, and detect, cyber criminals.

“EC-Council training bouquet also includes the Certified Network Defender for network administrators and Certified Secure Computer User for end-users, among many others,” he says. “As an Accredited Training Centre, we offer all these programmes, as well as the C|EH (Practical) course, which is the next step from the C|EH certification. To be effective, individuals need to understand the attack and the tool being used, and then implement a mitigation initiative.

“There’s no such thing as foolproof security, so one needs an integrated approach across the whole security lifecycle.”

When it comes to mitigating an attack, he stresses that partnering with a reputable vendor is the obvious choice for most organisations as open source options require a high degree of technical knowledge.

“To prove that you are proficient in Ethical Hacking, C|EH (Practical) doesn’t give you simulations. Many other certification providers talk about performance-based assessments, but the reality is they do not test your skills in a real-life environment. Most of these ‘performance-based tests’ are limited to simulations that are limited to testing knowledge instead of skills.” said Jay Bavisi, President of EC-Council Group.

Bringing Cyber Security Mastery to You

Netcampus, being the strategic partner for the region is partnering with EC-Council to bring high quality, affordable, hands-on cyber security training in a comfortable and traditional classroom environment through EC-Council Masterclass training in Pretoria, South Africa, on November 25-28, 2019.

The training is delivered by EC-Council’s Master Trainers who are industry experts with years of experience in handling the most complex threats. The courseware is structured according to industry standards and is available online with round-the-clock access for quick learning. The Masterclass series provides an opportunity to network with peers to discover the best practices and trends in the industry.

Prepping for 4IR

If cyber security is mandatory in today’s digital world, it’s becoming increasingly clear that skills related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are growing in importance, says Otsile Mabyane, programme manager: strategic projects at Netcampus.

“Government, from the President down, is talking a lot about 4IR and the opportunities it offers – and the skills we need to acquire in order to ride that particular wave,” he says. “While 4IR is in its infancy, we do definitely need to begin to acquire high-level skills like data science and artificial intelligence. But we need to begin somewhere, and I would argue that government itself has a golden opportunity to drive a shift towards a digital economy by changing the way it does things. By speeding up the move to e-government, the state will lead the charge in upskilling our population, and realising the huge wealth of human capital that exists in this country.”

In this regard, Mabyane says that Netcampus has developed the capability to help organisations in both the public and private sectors contribute to the goal of upskilling the country while also driving technology adoption within their organisation. Netcampus has already collaborated with clients to train interns in specific software skills and then deploy them within the client organisation as `agents of adoption’ or champions, helping permanent staff to accustom themselves to using new technology to do their work.

“In this way, we are helping clients to ensure that important technologies, like Azure, for example, are properly adopted within their organisations – but we’re also deepening the pool of young people with valuable IT skills,” he says. “That’s building the country from the bottom up.”

Source: Brainstorm Magazine