Cash-strapped companies that are staring liquidation in the face sometimes resort to desperate measures to convince the court hearing an application for winding-up that they are not, in fact, insolvent and should not be wound up. A novel and imaginative method was adopted by the company, a VAT vendor, in ITC 1865 (2013) 75 SATC 250, though it is unlikely to become popular or to find its way into tax-planning manuals.
Tag: SARS
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM ON DRAFT EMPLOYMENT TAX INCENTIVE BILL, 2013
The Draft Employment Tax Incentive Bill gives effect to the announcement by the President in his 2010 State of the Nation Address, and the 2010 Budget, that government will table proposals to subsidise the cost of hiring younger workers. The draft bill also gives effect to the 2013 Budget.
Gordhan: Govt will meet budget deficit
Cape Town – The governement will meet its budget deficit target for 2013/14, it was surprisingly announced in the mini budget on Wednesday.Although it was widely expected that the budget deficit of 4.2% of GDP would have to be lifted by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in the mini budget because of weaker economic growth, it will remain the same after including extraordinary receipts of R11.4bn and extraordinary payments of R0.2bn.When extraordinary transactions are excluded, the deficit climbs to 4.5%.According to the mini budget, the fiscal framework for the three-year spending period ahead strikes a balance between consolidation and support for the economy.The target of reducing the budget deficit to 3.0% of GDP in 2016/17 will therefore remain.Spending will remain within the non-interest expenditure ceiling established in the February budget. It states further that SA has several strengths that limit the vulnerability of its fiscal position and allow Read More …
Gordhan's mid-term budget speech fulfils prophecies
Gordhan’s mid-term budget speech fulfils prophecies During his medium-term budget policy speech Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan kept the rhetoric upbeat and SA’s purse strings tight, as expected. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan before the medium-term budget policy speech at Parliament in Cape Town. (David Harrison, M&G) Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget policy speech delivered in Parliament on Wednesday was the fulfilment of a general prophecy: he kept the rhetoric upbeat and the purse strings tight. This is the last medium-term budget speech to be heard before the 2014 elections.
South Africa Tax Statistics 2013
Author: SARS Legal and Policy The National Treasury and SARS jointly publish tax statistics annually. These aggregated statistics are compiled from SARS’s registers of taxpayers and from tax returns. These statistics complement other published social and economic data. The statistics are finding wide use within government, business, academia and non-governmental organisations.
Krok heir faces R228m tax bill
Pretoria – Mark Krok, billionaire heir to an apartheid-era skin-lightening company, will be about R228m poorer if the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and the Australian Tax Office (ATO) have their way. The Sunday Times reported that Sars, on behalf of the ATO, is seeking an order to ring-fence Krok’s local assets – including a R37.5m mansion in Clifton, Cape Town, as well as vast chunks of pharmaceutical company Aspen and casino company Tsogo Sun. In 2006, Australia kicked off Operation Wickenby, targeting high-profile tax evaders – and their lawyers and accountants – who have set up shell companies and trusts in tax havens to evade the Australian tax office. Maxim Krok, Mark’s estranged half-brother, has also come under the spotlight. In 2010, the ATO unleashed investigators to scrutinise his tax records.
Disposal of shares by a special purpose vehicle
Judgment was handed down in the case of A (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (case number 13003, as yet unreported) on 13 June 2013. The case involved the timeworn question of whether the receipts or accruals in respect of the disposal of a particular asset constitute gross income, or whether it is excluded as being capital in nature.
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.
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).
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.