After receiving what he described as ”significant interest” in the government’s Exchange Control Amnesty, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has extended the due date of the amnesty from November 30, 2003 to February 29, 2004.
Manuel announced the amnesty initiative in the February budget, providing an opportunity for South Africans to regularise their offshore income and assets. The window period was initially from June 1 to November 30, providing complete coverage for criminal and civil violations relating to exchange control and/or tax violations occurring before February 2002.
In September the government issued a circular to address unintended consequences, anomalies and incongruities that had arisen after a number of difficulties adversely affecting the amnesty process had been identified.
Manuel said that, as far as possible, these concerns had been remedied, and that there had been an ”impressive” upward trend in amnesty applications, accelerating in the latter half of October. The extension would allow interested parties to take full advantage of the newly issued regulations and Exchange Control Circular.
Manuel said that the Treasury had received 5 791 applications for amnesty as of November 6, and were currently receiving new ones at the rate of 300 per day. The amount of money involved in the applications was unknown, however, and would only be released once the amnesty period ended on February 29, 2004. – I-Net Bridge