Author: Louis Botha. The Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP), contained in Part B of Chapter 16 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (TAA), was introduced to encourage non-compliant taxpayers to come forward, and provide an account of their non-compliance with a view to regularizing their tax affairs. A valid disclosure and conclusion of a voluntary disclosure agreement with SARS shields the taxpayer from criminal prosecution and provides relief from the non-compliance and understatement penalties which would ordinarily have been imposed. Section 226(1) of the TAA provides that voluntary disclosure relief may be applied for by a person acting in their personal, representative, withholding or other capacity. Section 227 prescribes the requirements for a valid disclosure, and it must:
Category: Interpretation Notes
The failure by a taxpayer to object to the imposition of interest may prove fatal
Author: Louise Kotze. In the judgment of CSARS v The Executor of the Estate Late Lot Maduke Ndlovu (A395/2016) [2020] ZAGPPHC (12 October 2020), the High Court of South Africa had to determine whether the Tax Court had erred in its findings that, amongst others, the taxpayer should be entitled to raise a new ground of objection during the appeal when such ground had not been raised by the taxpayer in his objection. Facts The late taxpayer, the executor of whose estate was the respondent in this matter, was granted options to acquire shares in his employer, which options were exercised by him during his tenure of employment.
Planning ahead: SARS issues binding private ruling regarding pension payments from a foreign pension fund
Author: Louis Botha. In our Tax & Exchange Control Alert of 23 October 2020, we discussed the amendments that would be made to the provisions of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (Act) dealing with withdrawal of retirement funds upon emigration. These amendments will come into effect once the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (B27-2020) has been passed by both houses of Parliament, signed into law by the President and promulgated in the Government Gazette. In a related matter, it is interesting to note that on 22 November 2020, SARS issued Binding Private Ruling 355 (Ruling), regarding the taxation of amounts that accrue to a South African resident from a foreign pension fund. We discuss this Ruling below.
The Tax Dos and Donts of SBCs
Author: Esther van Schalkwyk , BDO Tax Manager. A Small Business Corporation (or SBC) may qualify for favourable tax treatment if it meets certain requirements in the Income Tax Act (ITA). The benefits, requirements, and common pitfalls are summarised below. Benefits Companies (including close corporations) are generally subject to a flat rate income tax of 28%. SBCs are subject to more favourable tax rates on taxable income up to R550 000. The SBC tax rates for financial years ending between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 are:
SARS prescription only starts once tax return has been submitted
Author: Eric Madumo, a Candidate Attorney and Joon Chong, a Partner at Webber Wentzel. In the recent case of CSARS v Char Trade, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that prescription begins to run against CSARS when a return for secondary tax on companies (STC) is submitted to SARS by a taxpayer. In the Char Trade case, a return for STC had not been submitted by the taxpayer. Due to this, prescription had not begun to run against CSARS. The result of this is that CSARS was able to make an assessment in 2012 of the taxpayer’s liability amounting to ZAR 1,812,609 for the 2007 cycle.
The capital v revenue question in the context of government grants: The SCA decides in favour of the motor manufacturing industry
Author: Louis Botha and Louise Kotze. In the recent case of Volkswagen South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for South African Revenue Service 80 SATC 179, the age-old question of whether a receipt is capital or revenue in nature was addressed by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), in the context of government grants paid to motor vehicle manufacturers.
SARS issues new guide to understatement penalties – a march toward further certainty?
Author: Jerome Brink (Senior Associate at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr). The Tax Administration Act, No 28 of 2011 (TAA) was promulgated with effect from 1 October 2012. The rationale behind the introduction of the TAA was that it would streamline, modernise and align the previous tax administration provisions to ultimately lower the cost and burden of tax administration in South Africa. One of the key changes to the tax administration regime in South Africa pursuant to the promulgation of the TAA was the conversion from the imposition of additional tax by SARS to the understatement penalty regime.
Major new tax burden introduced
Author: David Warneke (Partner and head of Tax Technical at BDO South Africa). The Taxation Laws Amendment Act of 2017 (Act 17 of 2017) which was promulgated on 18 December 2017 contains provisions, namely section 22B of the principal Income Tax Act and paragraph 43A of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, that will result in a significant compliance burden for companies, even in cases in which they do not result in additional taxation. The provisions deal with disposals of shares in a company (say A) that are held by another company (say B) in circumstances in which B held a significant portion of the equity shares (which the Amendment Act defines as a qualifying interest) in A at any time within the 18 months preceding the disposal. Section 22B applies in situations in which the shares that are the subject of the provision are held as trading Read More …
Deductibility of legal expenses
Author: Gigi Nyanin (Associate at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr). For purposes of determining the taxable income derived by any person from carrying on a trade, s11(c) of the Income Tax Act, No. 58 of 1962 (Act) provides for the deduction of legal expenses which arise in the course of or by reason of a taxpayers ordinary trading operations. More specifically, any legal expenses actually incurred by a taxpayer in respect of any claim, dispute or action at law arising in the course of or by reason of the ordinary operations undertaken by the [taxpayer] in the carrying on of [its] trade will be deductible.
The shoe is on the other foot: The High Court orders SARS to discover documents in the context of a review application
Authors: Louis Botha and Nandipha Mzizi(Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr). It seldom happens that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is compelled to provide documents to a taxpayer, while SARS is conducting an audit. In Carte Blanche Marketing CC and Others v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (26244/2015) [2017] ZAGPPHC 253 (26 May 2017), the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria had to decide whether SARS should be compelled to produce certain documents requested by the applicants (Taxpayers) in the context of a review application brought by the Taxpayers. The main proceedings in this matter involve a review application which the Taxpayers brought against SARS seeking to set aside the decision of SARS to audit them in terms of s40 of the Tax Administration Act, No 28 of 2011 (TAA).