Cova Advisory is your one stop shop for SEZ investors looking for advice on government incentives, energy efficiency, carbon and customs.

Cova Advisory is a specialist professional advisory firm located in Gauteng, the industrialist capital of South Africa. Cova specialises in providing advice on government incentives, i.e. extracting cash benefits through government grants and incentives, as well as customs and excise, energy, carbon and sustainability. Cova also assesses and quantifies the tax benefits due to local companies from participating in government regulated programmes. Cova executes its mandate through a multi-disciplinary team comprising chartered accountants, lawyers, engineers and environmental scientists. Cova Advisory is a 51% black-owned enterprise with a Level 2 B-BBEE status.

Cova has provided advisory services to investors in the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) which includes:

• Detailed feasibility studies for companies considering locating or investing further in the SEZ. During this process we analyse the business case and the benefits available to the investor in terms of government support specific to SEZ tenants plus other support offered by national government, including support measures contained in the Income Tax Act.
• The structuring of applications for the Automotive Investment Scheme (AIS) benefit and the drafting of comprehensive business plans for submission to the Department of Trade Industry a Competition (DTIC) for adjudication. 

In addition to the AIS, Cova’s incentives advisory team is able to assist TASEZ investors to explore and quantify eligibility for benefits under the following government incentive programmes:

• The Critical Infrastructure Programme to support the deployment of alternative energy sources and other infrastructure projects.
• The Black Industrialist Scheme for capital investment projects by majority black-owned and black managed South African manufacturing enterprises.
• Research and Development incentives such as the Support Programme for Industrial Innovation and Section 11D of the Income Tax Act.
• The Section 12L tax allowance incentive for energy efficiency.
• The Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP 2).

Our Energy advisory team is experienced in providing the following services to SEZ investors:

• Energy management plans
• Understanding Carbon Tax requirements
• How to undestand carbon footprints and the potential liabilities.
• Carbon policy
• Carbon offsets and carbon credits

Our Customs advisory team has assisted companies with various statutory matters relating to operating within the Customs Control Area of an SEZ.  Other services provide by our Customs team include:

• Customs / excise registrations
• Reviews of customs activities and reports
• Tariff classifications
• Rebates and drawbacks
• Rules of origin
• Customs planning necessitated by trade agreements such as AfCFTA
• SARS Preferred Trader readiness assistance
• Monitoring and applications related to bond stores
• Troubleshooting and penalty mitigation
• Lobbying