SARS and the never ending cycle of inappropriate verifications
Taxpayer complaints of this nature are now classified as systemic. By Amanda Visser 4 May 2022 The Office of the Tax Ombud recently identified repeated verifications of the same tax risk by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) as a systemic issue. These inappropriate verifications were discovered during an analysis to determine the root causes behind delays […]
Analysing tax exemption for dividends
Dividends are a valuable part of many shareholders’ income, but even though they are exempt from regular income tax, it does not mean that they are completely exempt from tax. A dividend can be defined as any local or foreign dividend paid by a resident company of South Africa or a foreign country, provided that the […]
DEDUCTIBLE OR NOT DEDUCTIBLE?
On 15 November 2019, the Cape Town Tax Court handed down judgement in ITC24614. It is yet another judgement concerned with the distinction between expenses of a capital nature or revenue nature – arguably the issue over which there has been the most litigation in South African tax history. The importance of the distinction lies […]
2018 TAX SEASON: SARS SHORTENS SUBMISSION PERIOD
The annual tax filing season is upon us and acting SARS Commissioner, Mark Kingon, announced that the season will open on 1 July 2018 for eFilers. SARS branches will assist taxpayers from 2 July 2018. The filing season will then end on 31 October. To improve efficiency, the season will be shortened by three weeks, […]
MEDICAL SCHEME FEES TAX CREDIT
Section 6A of the Income Tax Act[1] provides for a medical scheme fees tax credit (“MTC”), or rebate, which reduces the amount of income tax payable by a natural person (hereinafter referred to as the “taxpayer”). The MTC applies to the fees paid by the taxpayer to a registered medical scheme for his or her […]
NEW TRANSFER PRICING DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS
The transfer pricing regime in the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962, is regulated by section 31 of that Act. It in essence requires that cross-border transactions be entered into on an arm’s length basis where connected persons transact with one another. The obvious mischief sought to be countered is for connected persons to charge […]