Supporting the ETI programme is a no brainer as our youth unemployment is in the range of 52%, but the South African Revenue Service (Sars) needs to review some of these burdensome conditions, particularly as the ETI has been extended to 28th February 2019.
For instance, the prescribed guidelines in the Act don’t appear to take the actual work and business environment realities into account, mostly related to the inflexibility of many payroll systems.
Therefore the hours worked must be recorded and tracked to make the correct claim calculation. The calculation needs to be rules-based to avoid manual intervention. This adds complexity with system programming and, as a result, is often managed manually.
Sars has issued a Draft Binding General Ruling on the ETI Act 28 of 2013, aimed at resolving these issues, for which comments must be submitted by 24 July 2017.