Withholding tax change: removal of agent exception and an increased deduction rate for payments to non-residents. Amendment to the Income-tax Act alters withholding treatment of payments to non-residents by removing a prior exception for recovery from an agent and by increasing the prescribed deduction rate. Effective from 1 June 1975, the amendment deletes the proviso that exempted certain payers where the Income-tax Officer was satisfied that tax could be recovered from a non-resident's agent, thereby broadening immediate liability for deduction.