Property companies urged to get familiar with legislation before making the move to list. The Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regime is set to usher in a new era for the listed property sector by affording certain tax advantages to qualifying entities and providing certainty in respect of the tax treatment of property loan stock companies. However, as the legislation is new and untested, uncertainties and anomalies ex
Author: Nyasha Musviba
Patricia De Lille conned by tax fraud
THE tax practitioner who defrauded Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille of R80 000 has been found guilty on a multitude of charges including fraud and theft in the Wynberg Regional Court. Linda Addison-Adams, 54, used various methods to con clients until one of her victims laid bare her suspicious conduct to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The matter of validity: was a trust even created?
Author: Trinette Hartley (Sanlam) Trusts (and more specifically inter vivos discretionary trusts) are known to be useful estate planning tools with numerous benefits. Unfortunately, many trusts are created without a full understanding of what trusts are and how they work. This leads to trusts being created for the wrong reasons, trust deeds being invalid and trustees abusing their power. As a result, our courts are increasingly clamping down on trusts and one should therefore make sur
Shareholders can be hit with tax bill
Author: Amanda Visser (Businessday, bdlive.co.za) Shareholders will in certain circumstances be held responsible for the tax debt of a company when there is a voluntary winding up, even if they are not involved in the day-to-day management of the company. Some tax experts have argued the provision in the Tax Administration Act (TAA) that allows the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to hold shareholders liable for the tax debt of a company is inequitable.
Carbon tax has an ozone hole in it
Some really curious things have been happening recently on the climate change front. By and large, a strange silence has descended. Perhaps it’s just that the media is fed up with it. But that belies what is actually taking place. The first thing is that carbon dioxide levels are continuing to rise. Far from wringing your hand
Proposed amendments to the taxation of trusts
Author: Doria Cucciolillo (The SAIT) Background According to the 2013/2014-budget review the National Treasury intends to amend current income tax legislation that relates to trusts. At present trusts function as flow-through mechanisms and therefore provide loopholes to avoid taxes. The proposed amendments aim to reduce the available tax saving schemes involving trusts, but will have no effect on so-called special trusts (established to take care of minor children and persons with disabilities). This article investigates the income tax consequences of the proposed changes.
Mutual assistance provisions in double tax agreement between United Kingdom and South Africa
In the recent case of Ben Nevis (Holdings) Limited & Metlika Trading Limited v The Commissioners for HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) [2013] EWCA, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales considered the interpretation of the mutual assistance provisions in the double tax agreement (DTA) between the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa (SA).
Conversion of a share block scheme into sectional title – exemption from transfer duty
With effect from 1 January 2013 transfer duty is no longer payable in respect of a transaction contemplated in item 8 of schedule 1 of the Share Blocks Control Act, No 59 of 1980, whereby a right to or interest in the use of immovable property conferred by virtue of the ownership of a share in a share block company is converted to ownership of the immovable property concerned.
Tax Ombud: Lots of bark, but will it bite?
How the office could affect taxpayers. The recently promulgated Tax Administration Act, No. 2011 (TAA), introduces the Office of the Tax Ombud (the Tax Ombud). According to section 14 read with section 259 of the TAA, the Minister of Finance must appoint a person as Tax Ombud within one year after the commencement date of the TAA, which was on 1 October 2012. The Minister further announced in his 2012 Budget Speech on 22 February 2012 that the Tax Ombud will be appointed during the course of this year.
Connected Person Forex Rules To Provide Limited Protection
The current Income Tax rules that defer tax effects for related party debts and other exchange items are to be replaced with new, revised rules. The revised rules are generally narrower than the current rules and the replacement of the old rules will trigger both one-off and ongoing tax effects for many taxpayers, the majority of which, one suspects, are unaware of the consequences.