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What is your South African tax residence status?
Many South Africans leave the country. Some do so permanently, while others temporarily work and gain experience abroad. These persons often grapple with the question whether they are still considered to be South African tax residents. SARS recently added guidance on...
Corporate tax proposals for 2022
What awaits corporate taxpayers in the 2023? The National Treasury published the draft proposals for tax amendments for the 2022 legislative cycle on 29 July 2022. These give taxpayers an indication of the changes to expect at the end of 2022 (click here for the...
C:SARS v Capitec: A case of VAT equilibrium?
In Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Capitec Bank Limited (94/2021) [2022] ZASCA 97 (21 June 2022) the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Capitec Bank Limited (‘Capitec’) could not deduct input tax in respect of loan cover payouts to borrowers. This...
Management fees: Is there a tax risk?
Managers who advise and manage the affairs of others, for example, their investments or businesses, often charge management fees for those services. This is not unusual or out of the ordinary. In a tax context, certain arrangements that are labelled as management...
Changes to the limitation on interest deductions
The reduction in South Africa’s corporate tax rate to 27% coincides with two base-broadening measures that come into effect at the same time as the reduced rate. I considered the changes to the utilisation of assessed losses in an earlier article. This article...
Revised rules for utilising tax losses carried forward
The reduction in the corporate tax rate to 27% triggers the effective dates for two sets of amendments made during 2021. One of these amendments relate to the utilisation of assessed losses carried forward by companies. This article provides a brief overview of the...
Tax proposals in the 2022 Budget Review
The National Treasury published the 2022 Budget Review on Wednesday 23 February 2022. Amongst others this document sets out the tax proposals for the year ahead. This article briefly highlights some of these proposals and announcements that affect corporate taxpayers....
VAT on temporary letting by residential property developers
Persons who develop residential property for purposes of selling it are often not able to immediately sell the property as intended. If they are unable to do so for extended periods of time, developers often resort to renting the property to tenants in the interim to...
When is SARS out of time to raise an assessment?
Tax assessments must reach finality. For taxpayers this happens when SARS can no longer issue additional assessments for the specific tax period. Section 99 of the Tax Administration Act limits the periods for issuance of assessments by SARS. This article considers...
Tax on cryptocurrency transactions
Cryptocurrencies present lucrative trading as their short-term values fluctuate wildly. They may however also prove to be good longer term investments if the value ultimately grows substantially when held over a longer period of time. Over the past few months,...
Section 24C: The ‘contractual sameness’ requirement
Taxpayers may deduct an allowance for expenditure not yet incurred in the circumstances set out in section 24C of the Income Tax Act. This provision has been the subject of two disputes that proceeded to the Constitutional Court (‘CC’), which in itself is...
Exposure to penalties while in an assessed loss position
Introduction Taxpayers who find themselves in a loss-making position often intuitively assume that as long as they are not liable to pay tax due to the fact that they have an assessed loss, they would not be exposed to understatement penalties (‘USPs’). This...
Budget 2021: Tax proposals
The National Treasury published the Budget Review 2021 on 24 February 2021. This document contains the announcements of tax rates and scales, but also proposals for various tax amendments of a more technical nature that the National Treasury intends to make as part...
The 2020 tax amendments
The National Treasury recently published a number of bills that contain the amendments to the tax laws for the 2020 legislative cycle. This article reviews a selection of amendments that are likely to be of broad relevance to taxpayers and advisors. It is not intended...
The mechanics of asset-for-share transactions
Asset-for-share transactions qualify for relief under the corporate rule in section 42 of the Income Tax Act (‘the ITA’). In the course of advising on these transactions or reviewing transactions proposed to taxpayers, I realised that taxpayers are often not aware of...
Relevance of accounting standards to South African taxpayers
Income tax legislation and accounting standards generally operate independently. Despite the fact that both ultimately aim to determine a measure of profitability, each has its own definitions and methodology to achieve a specific purpose. There have always been clear...
Tax deductions for future expenses
Taxpayers are generally only entitled to deduct expenses in determining their taxable income when they actually incur the expenditure. Section 24C of the Income Tax Act provides an exception to this rule. This article provides a brief overview of the provision and...
Tax treatment of bad and doubtful debts
In the current business conditions lenders increasingly face the prospect of not being able to fully recover debts. These debts may include trade debts, for example, trade receivables, but also longer-term debts. This article provides an overview of the relevant tax...
Tax consequences of debt relief
Debt restructuring arrangements are likely to become more prevalent in the tough economic conditions that South Africa currently encounter. One of the key considerations when entering into such an arrangement is to understand the tax consequences. This article...
Telkom case: Exchange losses on shareholder loans
The Supreme Court of Appeal (‘the SCA’) delivered judgment in Telkom SA SOC Limited v C:SARS (Case no 239/19) [2020] ZASCA 19 on 25 March 2020. One of the matters considered in this case related to a deduction claimed by Telkom SA SOC Ltd (‘Telkom’) in respect of...
Tax proposals in the 2020 Budget Review
The National Treasury published its annual Budget Review on 26 February 2020 (‘the Budget Review’). The above-inflation proposed adjustments to the progressive tax brackets, rather than anticipated increases in tax rates, surprised many commentators. Chapter 4 and...
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