Latest news with #2025Budget
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
IRB announces compulsory stamping for employment contracts from 2026, penalties for late compliance
PUTRAJAYA, June 6 — The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has announced that all employment contracts between employers and employees must be stamped starting January 1, 2026. This directive is in line with the phased implementation of the Stamp Duty Self-Assessment System (STSDS) as outlined in the 2025 Budget. In a statement today, the IRB said it has already begun comprehensive stamp duty audit activities nationwide since January this year, following the issuance of the Stamp Duty Audit Framework (RKADS). 'Through the audit activities and compliance operations, one of the key findings has been that many employment contract documents between employers and employees have not been stamped as required under Item 4, First Schedule of the Stamp Act 1949, where the stamp duty is set at RM10,' according to the statement. It said to ease the burden on employers, the Ministry of Finance has agreed to exempt employment contracts executed before January 1, 2025, from stamp duty obligations. This requirement is enforced based on the powers granted to the Minister of Finance under subsection 80(1A) of the Stamp Act 1949 and the authority to remit late stamping penalties provided to the Collector of Stamp Duty under subsection 47A(2) of the Stamp Act 1949. In addition, employment contracts finalised from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, will be subject to stamp duty. However, a remission of late stamping penalties will be granted, provided that the employment contracts are stamped on or before December 31, 2025. This relief is exercised under the powers of the Collector of Stamp Duty under subsection 47A(2) of the Stamp Act 1949. According to the IRB, starting January 1, 2026, employment contracts finalised from that date onwards will be subject to stamp duty, and any delays in stamping will result in penalties being imposed. In light of these developments, the IRB urges all employers to review and update existing and upcoming employment contracts to ensure full compliance with stamping requirements as stipulated under the Stamp Act 1949. — Bernama
Zawya
28-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Nigeria: Rivers administrator to defend 2025 budget before joint NASS committee — Senate
The Senate on Tuesday revealed that the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and other key functionaries would defend the state's 2025 budget before the Joint National Assembly Ad-hoc Committee to Oversee Emergency Rule in Rivers State. A statement from the Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, Office of the Senate Leader was silent on the actual date. But the upper chamber assured Nigerians that it was determined to ensure that the people of Rivers State 'are not shortchanged due to the declaration of emergency rule by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on March 18.' The Leader of the Senate/Chairman, Senate Ad-hoc Committee to Oversee Emergency Rule in Rivers State, made the disclosure at the inaugural meeting of the committee held in the New Senate Wing, National Assembly Complex, Abuja on Tuesday. Recall that after President Tinubu declared the emergency rule in Rivers State, President of the Senate, President Godswill Akpabio had subsequently constituted an 18-member Committee on Emergency Rule under the chairmanship of Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. At the inaugural meeting on Tuesday, Bamidele revealed that both chambers of the National Assembly had agreed to hold a joint session to oversight the 2025 budget of the state, which the sole administrator laid before the parliament last week through President Tinubu. The Senator representing Ekiti Central in the Senate, assured Nigerians that the National Assembly 'is determined to work closely with members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee to Oversee Emergency Rule in Rivers State to ensure financial propriety and good governance. 'It is our understanding with our colleagues in the House of Representatives that the sole administrator and other relevant functionaries of the state will all appear the joint ad-hoc committee of both chambers of the National Assembly when it is time for them to defend the 2025 the budget at the National Assembly,' Bamidele said with assurance to provide effective oversight in the state. He, further, noted that the inaugural meeting 'is a necessary ritual to enable the committee carry out its assignment and mandate. The committee will guarantee that the democratic rule will continue to function in Rivers State despite the declaration of emergency rule. 'The Senate is committed to the rule of law as well as the tenets of democracy. I am also confident in the pedigree of the members of this ad-hoc committee to deliver on the role of oversighting the activities of the sole administrator of Rivers State,' the chairman of the ad-hoc committee further said. Bamidele, therefore, challenged all members of the committee to be diligent and thorough in providing oversight functions for the Government of Rivers State and ensuring that the citizens of Rivers State are not shortchanged due to the declaration of emergency rule He noted that the 2025 budget of the Rivers State Government 'has been presented to the National Assembly by the Sole Administrator through the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The budget is being referred to our committee. 'The committee has just finalised on its workplan as well as the timetable that will ensure proper budget defence by the sole administrator of Rivers State. The budget defence will involve other state officials of the state, especially the Accountant-General of Rivers State, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and relevant officials in charge of the economy of the state 'As much as possible, the National Assembly will ensure propriety in the discharge of our oversight functions. We will also ensure that governance does not suffer in Rivers State during the period of emergency rule,' Bamidele further assured Nigerians. Apart from the Senate Leader who presided at the inaugural meeting, others who attended were Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Tahir Munguno; Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Peter Nwebonyi; Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Adamu Aliero; Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa; Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru and Chairperson, Senate Committee on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Senator Oluranti Adebule.
Zawya
23-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Why Budget 3.0 isn't the boon for small businesses South Africa needs?
While South Africa's revised 2025 Budget brought political stability and fiscal consistency, it missed a crucial opportunity to drive inclusive economic transformation through bold support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). That's the view of Shawn Theunissen, founder of Entrepreneurship To The Point (eTTP) and Property Point, two of the country's well-known small business development organisations. 'Budget 3.0 offers fiscal discipline, but not bold economic inclusion,' said Theunissen. 'Small businesses remain on the sidelines, waiting for support to reach them. The continued absence of direct, scalable SME-focused policies risks deepening inequality, slowing recovery, and failing to unlock entrepreneurial potential.' While the abandonment of the VAT hike is welcomed, the Budget introduced no new tax relief, grants, or enterprise funding mechanisms specifically targeting SMEs. At the same time, a fuel levy increase will raise input and logistics costs, particularly for township, rural, and informal businesses, without any corresponding support. Promises without delivery 'This was an opportunity to fast-track real SME recovery through targeted tax breaks, working capital relief, and formalised access to state-backed funding. Instead, we saw continuity with little urgency,' Theunissen said. The revised GDP growth forecast of just 1.4% for 2025 reflects a subdued economic outlook, which offers little stimulus to small enterprises. Despite years of commitments, no new mechanisms were introduced to address persistent credit and working capital gaps, and previously announced SME funding remains largely undisbursed. 'It's not just about what's missing in the new budget, it's also about what hasn't been delivered from the last three,' said Theunissen. 'Funding delays, unclear disbursement channels, and inaccessible application processes continue to undermine the government's promises.' Despite growing calls for inclusion, Budget 3.0 introduces no focused measures to support women- or youth-led enterprises, both of which are disproportionately excluded from procurement, finance, and formal supply chains. 'Budget 3.0 failed to introduce or revitalise entrepreneurship training, innovation incentives, or enterprise support, especially for youth and women. This oversight is short-sighted, as these sectors offer high impact for job creation and inclusive economic growth,' he said. SMEs drive growth He pointed out that SMEs account for 98.5% of all formal businesses in South Africa, provide over 60% of private-sector employment and contribute more than a third of the country's GDP. 'Undermining SMEs is not a technical adjustment—it's an economic risk,' Theunissen noted. 'We talk about resilience, but we're not equipping entrepreneurs to survive.' Theunissen acknowledged several promising developments, including: - The cancellation of the proposed VAT increase. - A renewed R1tn commitment to infrastructure and digital investment. - Reforms in local government procurement and service delivery. - Enhanced Sars enforcement, which could reduce illicit competition. However, these long-term commitments lack clarity on implementation, timelines, and inclusion of SMEs as direct beneficiaries. 'We've seen bold announcements before. Without delivery, they don't reach the businesses that matter most, especially in underserved communities,' said Theunissen. From relief to reform He said to shift from symbolic relief to systemic change. He called for an urgent pro-SME fiscal strategy, including: - Targeted tax relief for small businesses on essential inputs: With rising input costs and shrinking margins, SMEs urgently need targeted tax relief on basic goods and services to remain viable in low-growth conditions. - Fast-tracked disbursement of existing SME funding commitments: Billions committed to SME support remain undisbursed; this budget should have prioritised fast-tracking delivery to entrepreneurs who can't wait another year. - Legal enforcement of the 30-day payment rule in public procurement: Late payments from the government remain a chronic problem; legally enforcing a 30-day payment rule is essential to protect SME cash flow and survival. - Clear SME inclusion in Operation Vulindlela and structural reforms: Without transparent SME procurement targets and timelines in Operation Vulindlela, reform efforts will bypass entrepreneurs. - Dedicated enterprise development for women and youth entrepreneurs: The absence of tailored programmes for women and youth-led enterprises is a missed opportunity to tackle unemployment where it hits hardest. - Incentivised formalisation of the informal economy through tax credits and simplified registration: Formalisation must be driven by incentives, not penalties, giving informal entrepreneurs tax breaks and easy registration pathways to enter the mainstream economy.' 'This is not just about budgets – it's about credibility,' Theunissen said. 'If SMEs are the future of work and wealth in South Africa, then we need a budget that treats them as central to recovery, not peripheral to macroeconomic stability.' All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
RNZ News
22-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Budget 25: Boost will mostly be eaten by inflation, police union says
Police Association President Chris Cahill says the devil will be in the details as to where promised Budget funding will be focused. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver The Police Association says it's pleasantly surprised by new funding allocated from this year's Budget. The government is investing $480 million over the next four years to support frontline police as part of the 2025 Budget. Police Association president Chris Cahill said the devil would be in the details as to where funding will be focused. "It takes a lot to run a police force, and they sound some big numbers, but most of it will just be absorbed into the increased costs driven by inflation," Cahill said. "But that's much better than falling behind which is what I thought we probably would deal with." The government was also investing $60 million of new funding over the next four years for the Prosecutions Uplift Programme, which was a targeted intervention programme that included improvements to prosecutions, in order to support the court system and reach more timely case resolutions, and funding for administrative police costs like payroll and human resources. Cahill said the programme, which started in Auckland two years ago, was making good gains. "That's good for victims of crime, getting stuff through the courts quicker, it's making it easier for frontline cops to file prosecution files, and also for offenders to get dealt with, it improves justice," he said. In a statement on Thursday, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the Prosecutions Uplift Programme had the added benefit of freeing-up frontline staff from "administrative overhead". "The programme started in July 2023 in Auckland, and its success there means it will now be rolled out nationally," he said. "We're supporting Police to crack down on crime and ensure there are real consequences for offenders." Chris Cahill said there were other areas of the police force where funding needed to be considered, including the vehicles and equipment used by frontline staff. "Clearly, IT continues to need to be upgraded, so it's good to see some investment in that, and we'll just have to see where all the frontline stuff goes, but just the cost of fuel, general inflation matters, will soak up a significant portion of that [$480] million over four years," he said. "We've also got what I call our backbone, our police employees, our non-sworn staff that need to receive pay rises as well, so those types of things will have to be factored in to where this money's spent. "It's a big organisation and it does take a lot to run, but given how tight the government is at the moment, I think we have to be grateful for what's been received." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
22-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Budget 2025: 'Underperforming' areas cut to pay for 'seismic shift' in education
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: Samuel Rillstone / RNZ The 2025 Budget puts the handbrake on annual growth in education spending, as past splurges on school buildings run out in the next few years. Despite that, spending on teaching and learning continues to grow with what the government describes as a "seismic shift" in support for children with disabilities. Education Minister Erica Stanford said new education initiatives in the Budget totalled $2.5 billion over four years, though about $614m of that total was reprioritised from "underperforming" initiatives. The government's total spend on early childhood and school education would grow by roughly $400m to $19.85b in 2025-26, but drop to $19b and $18.9b in subsequent years. The future decline was partly due to the fact the $240m a year free school lunch programme, Ka Ora, Ka Ako, was only funded until the end of 2026, and to a $600m drop in capital funding by 2027-28 and beyond. The Budget revealed education's worst-kept secret - the axing of the major school-clustering scheme, Kahui Ako, to help bankroll a $720m increase for learning support. The increase included $266m to extend the early intervention service from early childhood through to the end of Year 1 of primary school, including employing 560 more early intervention teachers and specialists and helping an additional 4000 children. It also included $192m over three years to provide learning support coordinators in 1250 more primary schools, $122m to meet increased demand for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme for students with the highest needs, and $90m to build 25 new satellite classrooms for specialist schools. Stanford said the government was building up to adding 2 million extra teacher aide hours by 2028. The other big education initiative in the Budget was $298m for curriculum, nearly half of it targeted to maths and literacy, and about $76m for a new standardised reading, writing and maths test for schools. Other areas of spending included $672m for property, $150m for the teaching workforce, $104m for Māori education, and $140m for attendance, which was announced prior to the Budget . School operations grants received a 1.5 percent boost at a cost of $79m per full year, or $121.7m over the four years. The Budget total included $3b a year for early childhood education, with a 0.5 percent increase to early childhood service subsidies. The Budget included an 11 percent increase to government subsidies for private schools, raising the annual spend by $4.6m to 46.2m a year. Associate Education Minister David Seymour said the annual spend on private schools had not changed since 2010, when they had about 27,600 pupils - and they now had more than 33,000. The annual spend on charter schools also doubles next year to $57m, most of it for those operating as secondary schools, with the increase largely due to the drawdown of funding for setting up the schools. The Budget showed the government expected to sign contracts for 30 to 50 charter schools in the next 12 months. [subhead] The cuts The Budget included a myriad of cuts to redirect funding to other education initiatives. "We have assessed underspends and reprioritised initiatives that are underperforming or lack clear evidence that they're delivering intended outcomes," Stanford said. The biggest cut was ending the Kahui Ako scheme, which paid about 4000 teachers extra to lead improvements in groups of schools, resulting in a reprioritisation of $375m over four years . The Budget repurposed spending of $72m over four years on programmes for kura kaupapa and Māori-medium education. However, half of it came from a contingency fund that was superseded by another source of money, meaning the sector was not suffering a cut from that part of the change. It also reprioritised $50m from schools' regional response fund, about $40m from resource teachers of literacy, and $14m from resource teachers of learning and behaviour in secondary schools. Also repurposed was about $37m from underspent funding on primary schools and $12m from the Positive Behaviour for Learning scheme for schools. A new $24m per year spend on support for the maths curriculum was bankrolled from a $28m a year spend on teacher professional development. Also cut was $2.6m a year for the Reading Together programme, $1.6m a year for study support centres and about $4m from the greater Christchurch renewal programme. A further $2m a year was saved by cutting a classroom set-up and vandalism grant for schools. The Budget said the net five-year impact of the funding cuts and increases was $1.69b. Last year's Budget reprioritised $429m over four years. Associate Education Minister David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone [subhead] Tertiary funding rises The Budget boosted the government's subsidies for enrolments in tertiary courses next year by 3 percent - but only in some subject areas such as science, teacher education and health - at a total cost of $213m over four years. Enrolments in science, technology, engineering and maths (the STEM subjects) at degree-level and above would attract a further 1.5 percent, increase at a cost of $64m. The Budget also included $111m over four years to cover expected enrolment growth in 2025 and 2026. The government said it also proposed allowing tertiary institutes to raise the fees they charged domestic students by up to 6 percent next year "to further help providers manage cost pressures and maintain quality delivery". Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds said there would also be funding for two years starting next year to help polytechnics transition to independence from mega-institute Te Pukenga. The figure was not specified. There would also be $30m a year for the new Industry Skills Boards, which would replace Workforce Development Councils, plus one-off funding of $10m to help with establishment costs. Overall tertiary spending would total $3.8b next year. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
