Tag: tax law

Dispelling accusations of any revenue collector can feel like the fight of your life, especially where you are factually not on the wrong side of the law! Amongst these collectors, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) stands firm as one of the most strategic movers, turning the fight into an all-out war, the war on non-compliance!

All taxpayers should arrange their tax affairs to obtain the best advantage and to pay the least amount of tax. This is a right every taxpayer possesses, and well entrenched in South African and international tax law. However, this planning must be done within the constraints of what the law allows.

Despite speculations that government has revived plans to introduce a wealth tax, the focus of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has instead shifted to compliance of wealthy taxpayers with complex financial structures as well as trusts.

South Africa’s tax laws were designed for a high-income society – a result of a long history of the country accommodating a small, wealthy economy, and a large, poor one. But for a country with tens of millions being either unemployed or receiving very little income, being one of the world’s highest-taxed states does not make sense, particularly when small business growth is so crucially important to our economic future.

Warren Buffet, the most successful investor of all time, calls cryptocurrency 'Tulip Mania'. Cryptocurrency, the most successful investment of all time, doesn’t seem to care. Now a decade on, governments are scrambling to work out how they can get a slice of the tulip pie.

Even after the final reforms are in place investors will remain free to be their own worst enemy. Almost 10 years after National Treasury embarked on its mission to strengthen South African retirement savings, as reflected in the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill of 2020, the final reforms are scheduled to come into effect on March 1 but, unfortunately, fund members will still be free to sabotage their own retirement.

In late 2019, as the African oil and gas industry was looking to the future with optimism, an Offshore Engineer wrote that the continent had reason to expect a 'more productive 2020'. Instead, the unforeseen happened, and the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the oil and gas industry in Africa and around the world.

The hotly debated amendment to Section 10(1)(o)(ii) or 'Expatriate Exemption' took effect from 1 March 2020, with the questions on many expatriates’ minds often being 'how will SARS find me? What does the SARS audit of an expatriate look like and what questions should I expect?'

The envisaged future relaxation of the prohibition on 'loop structures' will be accompanied by amended tax laws, but current proposals are likely to result in more tax on certain structures. National Treasury has proposed a number of amendments to tax legislation as a result of the potential future relaxation of the SA Reserve Bank's current prohibition on so-called 'loop structures'. 

Automation can help businesses decrease the R7.2 billion lost to admin. We’re racing towards the end of another tax year and we have heard about the Finance Minister’s proposed changes for the 2020/21 tax year. Not too long after Minister Tito Mboweni unveils changes to PAYE and other taxes during his budget speech on 26 February, the season for Employer Annual Reconciliations will open.