Finance Minister Tito Mboweni gazetted the final notices of regulations which allow for withdrawals for paid-up annuities to increase, as well as to lift the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contribution ceiling.
The gazettes, issued in May, give effect to two announcements of the 2021 Budget, National Treasury said in a statement on Monday.
According to National Treasury, the regulations pertaining to the retirement annuity fund will allow the minimum value of withdrawals from retirement savings for members with paid-up annuities to be increased from R7 000 to R15 000. "The change to the withdrawal threshold is intended to assist households in accessing funds," the statement read. The effective date for the regulation was 1 March 2021.
In its budget review earlier this year, Treasury said that the minimum value had not been adjusted since 2007/08.
The regulation pertaining to the UIF allows for the contribution ceiling to increase from R14 872 to R17 712 per month. This means the maximum amount on which employee UIF contributions are calculated is now R17 712. "…the revised UIF contribution ceiling will align with the benefit threshold and provide additional funds to the UIF after a large portion of the available funds have been used for the Temporary Employment Relief Scheme," the statement read. The effective date for the regulation was 1 June 2021.
The ceiling for contributions had not been increased in the past four years, despite an increase in the benefit ceiling, Treasury noted in its budget review.