The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for February 2013 that record a trade deficit of R9.52 billion. Summary The R9.52 billion deficit for February 2013 can be attributed to exports of R62.32 billion and imports of R71.84 billion. Exports increased from January to February by R9.04 billion (17.0%) and imports decreased from January to February by R5.97 billion (-7.7%). The reduction in the trade deficit from R24.5 billion in January 2013 was due to an increase in exports of mineral products, chemical products, precious metals and machinery and electrical appliances. Imports decreased in the following sections: prepared foodstuffs, chemical products, plastics and rubber, machinery and electronics and vehicles, aircraft and vessels. The cumulative deficit for 2013 is R34.11 billion compared to R23.71 billion in 2012.
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Caught on tape: Tax boss and drug dealer
Cosy liaison with head of Sars revealed in jobs-for-pals scandal SA Revenue Service (Sars) boss Oupa Magashula is at the centre of a jobs-for-pals scandal involving a convicted drug dealer who is allegedly a police informant. In a clandestine recording laced with sexual innuendo, a copy of which City Press has in its possession, Magashula and Panganathan “Timmy’’ Marimuthu offer a 28-year-old woman from Marimuthu’s charismatic church a R700 000-a-year Sars post. Sars officials this week confirmed the authenticity of the recording, but claim their boss’ hands are clean and Marimuthu set him up.
Rooibos
Rooibos certainly does make the headlines. That soothing cup of tea that so many of us enjoy was big news a few years back when an American company announced that it had a US trade mark registration for the name Rooibos, and that it would be able to block South African exporters of rooibos tea from using the name in the USA – it subsequently transpired that a South African entrepreneur who had been at the forefront of rooibos exports to the USA had in fact obtained the US registration way back in 1994 (at a time when the name was practically unknown outside of South Africa),
When can SARS re-characterise contractual arrangements for taxation purposes?
Tax planning structures normally involve multiple parties. Sometimes the individuals and/or legal entities involved are inter-connected. The tax benefits generated through such structures, almost without exception, annoy revenue authorities.
Interpretation Note 49 (Issue 2) – Documentary proof required to substantiate a vendor’s entitlement to input tax or a deduction
This Note provides guidelines on the documentary proof that must be obtained and retained under section 16(2) of the VAT Act to substantiate a vendor’s entitlement to “input tax” as defined in section 1(1), or a deduction as contemplated in section 16(3)(c) to (n). Click here to download full guide.
SARS Guides: VAT412 Guide for share block schemes
Today Sars published VAT guide for share block schemes. The guide deals with the VAT implications of share block schemes in South Africa and the various types of supplies related to these schemes. The intention of the guide is to attend to basic principles and their effect from a VAT point of view.
Call To Speed Up African Tripartite FTA Negotiations
by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus The Government of Zambia has called on the three African regional economic communities (RECs) – the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – to speed up their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
Welcome
I would like to sincerely welcome you to my taxation blog. Taxation has always been a worry to many people. Others have tried to avoid it in either not paying tax or not wanting to know more about it. The aim of this blog is to demystify taxation. Useful guides will be posted, latest tax news will be re-written in normal language terms in which everyone will understand. Seat back, relax and keep on watching this space.
Maintenance contracts: making commercial sense of section 24C
ENSafrica Ehrhard Furstenburg The Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (“the Commissioner”) has recently published a Draft Interpretation Note (“the Draft”) on the allowance of future expenditure on contracts in terms of section 24C of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (“the Act”). In the Draft the Commissioner has taken a firm view on what he regards as “a high degree of probability and inevitability” that expenditure will be incurred, especially with regards to maintenance contracts. The view taken by the Commissioner may very well lead to many taxpayers, particularly vehicle manufacturers, having to reconsider the fine print of their maintenance plans and contracts ultimately resulting in an additional cost burden spilling over to consumers.
Proposed gambling tax
In 2011 government announced a national gambling tax proposal, that with effect from 1 April 2012, all gambling winnings above R25,000, including those from the National Lottery, would be subject to a final 15 per cent withholding tax. It was also indicated that similar gambling taxes exist in India, the Netherlands and the United States. According to the Minister the proposed gambling tax would assist in discouraging excessive gambling in South Africa.