A comparative study of tax incentives for small businesses in South Africa, Australia, India and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study discusses South Africa’s tax incentives for small businesses and identifies shortcomings and areas of concern within the tax incentive regimes. A comparison of small business tax incentives provided by Australia, India, and the United Kingdom is made with South Africa’s small business tax incentives to identify similarities and differences, and new lessons are learned from the approaches of other countries. As a result of the comparison with the tax dispensations available to small businesses in other countries, the study recommends additional tax incentives that could be implemented by South Africa. Only those tax incentives that are available in other countries but not in South Africa that were deemed worthwhile were recommended to be introduced in the Republic. Recommendations were also made based on the gaps identified in South Africa’s small business tax incentives.