Tax News

VAT on Grants versus Consideration for Supplies

Nyasha Musviba

Author: Leah Nieman. Non-profit organisations (NPOs) or Public Benefit Organisations (PBOs) often receive funding, payments, or consideration from public authorities or municipalities (Government). This frequently gives rise to uncertainty regarding the treatment of payments received from Government which could result in the VAT vendor treating the receipt incorrectly. If Government engages with a vendor to acquire goods or services, an actual supply is made. However, uncertainty arises if payment received from Government does not relate to the procurement of goods and services.

Timing of tax on gift cards

Nyasha Musviba

Author: Ben Strauss. The timing of income tax in relation to retailer gift cards was recently an issue in the interesting case in the Cape Town Tax Court, case number IT 24510, reported as A Company v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (IT 24510) [ZATC] 1 (17April 2019). Judge Binns-Ward neatly set the scene in the opening paragraph of the judgment:

Investing abroad? The foreign investment allowance is at your disposal

Nyasha Musviba

Author: Louis Botha. It is common nowadays for SouthAfrican persons to diversify their investment portfolio and to invest in foreign jurisdictions. When doing so, South African residents must ensure that they transfer funds abroad in a manner that complies with SouthAfricas exchange control rules. In our Tax & Exchange Control Alert of 6 October 2017, we explained how South African resident individuals can make use of their annual single discretionary allowance (SDA) of R1 million, to transfer and take funds abroad without the prior approval of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and without first having to obtain a tax clearance certificate.

Preference share funding and the potential application of paragraph 43A of the Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act

Nyasha Musviba

Authors: Ludwig Smith and Julia Kaplan. In a preference share funding transaction, the funder subscribes for preference shares in the share capital of a company. In contrast to a loan where interest on a debt facility is taxable in the hands of the lender, the dividends received by the holder of the preference shares are generally exempt from income tax. This tax benefit is, in turn, advantageous to the company as the funder can charge the company a lower funding rate than would otherwise have been charged had the funding been advanced in the form of a loan.

VAT Cross-Border E-Commerce Rules promulgated

Nyasha Musviba

Author: Des Kruger, a Webber Wentzel Consultant. The indirect taxation of cross-border e-commerce transactions have been high on the agenda for tax authorities worldwide. There is clearly a perception that much of these transactions are escaping indirect tax (essentially VAT) because the supplier and consumer are in different jurisdictions. Following the release of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines most VAT jurisdictions have adopted new rules for the taxation of cross-border e-commerce.

Reportable arrangement: proposed reporting burden on mining companies and rehabilitation trusts

Nyasha Musviba

The reportable arrangement provisions were established by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) with the objective of obtaining information on certain types of transactions. The circumstances under which a person should report an arrangement to SARS, as defined in section 34 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (the TAA), are contained in sections 34 to 39 of the TAA.