Tax

With the effective date of 01 March 2020 for the ‘expat tax’ drawing closer, South African expatriates, their employers and tax advisors have little time to come to grips with the impact that this tax policy and law change will have on them personally.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) delivered a judgment on 6 September 2019 that handed SARS, what could be considered, one of their most influential wins in recent times. The SARS Commissioner did not pull any punches and took BMW South Africa to task on tax services performed for their expatriates, by their top tier advisors KPMG and PwC.

It’s a sobering thought, but South Africans have a serious climate change problem. As the world’s 14th largest emitter of carbon dioxide, we have a massive role to play in responding to climate change, and a duty to the planet to shift to a lower-carbon economy. As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Accord, United Nations member countries agreed to hasten their transition to a low-carbon future.

The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) 2019 was tabled to Parliament on 30 October 2019 by South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has for the second time in CSARS v Atlas Copco South Africa (Pty) Ltd, confirmed that the net realisable value (NRV) method is not a suitable method to value closing stock for income tax purposes.

The saying goes that we should pay Caesar what he is due and not what he demands. To achieve this in tax planning, estate planners use donations as one of the ways in which to effectively and legally help individuals reduce the taxable values of their estates. Donations of up to R100,000 per year can be used to reduce estate duty.

Can there be a settlement with SARS if an objection was raised out of time? What are the advantages of reaching a settlement? What are the costs of not resolving a dispute?

For some time now, there has been murmurs of a tax revolt amongst South African taxpayers. For too many reasons to mention, South African taxpayers, sometimes publicly, contemplate the notion of disregarding their tax obligations.

SARS Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, has used the South African Institute of Tax Professionals’ Tax Indaba as a platform to fire a shot across the bow, letting taxpayers know that non-compliance will be met with the full force of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

'Most favoured nation' clauses can be found in Double Taxation Agreements (DTA). These clauses are essentially where the tax treatment accorded by one state to another state must be no less favourable than the tax treatment extended to a third state.