Tag: tax evasion

Tax evasion goes far beyond legal tax avoidance. It is the practice of illegally hiding income or profits to avoid paying tax, costing countries over $500 billion a year. In many cases, tax crime and hidden owners depend on opaque ownership structures that conceal who really owns assets, where transactions are flowing, and other patterns of criminal behaviour.

A new study found that tax administration in many African countries is inefficient, hindering revenue collection. This points to potential gaps that could be addressed through institutional reforms. Widespread inefficiencies in tax systems in Africa undermine the mobilisation of government resources, limiting their capacity to deliver public services and make essential investments.

We are urging all young entrepreneurs to secure their businesses’ long-term success by ensuring their full tax compliance by February 28, 2025.

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) has introduced new obligations for reporting beneficial ownership information. The deadlines are tied to each company’s date of inception. Businesses must declare their beneficial owners within 30 days of their anniversary date, similar to annual return filings.

The Supreme Court of Appeal has backed Commissioner Kieswetter and issued a stern warning to all South Africans to refrain from assisting others in evading their tax obligations. Where you are caught, South African Revenue Service (SARS) will go after your personally. This is now settled law in South Africa and directors or companies, tax advisors, lawyers, accountants, or even payroll professionals can find themselves on the hook.

Despite being viewed as an administrative and burdensome expense with excessive paperwork sometimes causing potential delays to establishing business relationships and concluding transactions, Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) compliance is more crucial than ever.

Twenty-one African countries have already enacted rules for non-resident suppliers to account for Value-Added Tax (VAT) / Goods and Sales Tax on electronically supplied services. The digital economy is more than just technology and the internet.

On 31 July 2023, National Treasury released their annual draft tax law amendments, for public comment. Although still at the draft stage, there are some pertinent proposed changes for which the supporting systems have already been implemented i.e., the “Beneficial Ownership Registers”.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) recently announced their intention to declare cryptocurrency as a financial product, which is in line with current worldwide trends as well as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) which published a draft declaration of crypto assets as financial products in 2020.

Instilling trust in taxpayers is vital to increasing tax collection. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has announced that the 2022 tax season will open in July; a condensed filing season compared to 2021, which was extended due to the long-tail impact of the pandemic.