Tag: Webber Wentzel

In the recent case of CSARS v Char Trade, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that prescription begins to run against CSARS when a return for secondary tax on companies (STC) is submitted to SARS by a taxpayer.

The sharing economy (i.e. the community based on-line market) continues to expand at a rapid pace throughout a broad range of industries with Uber and Taxify dominating the taxi/ private vehicle hiring industry and Airbnb now the largest hotel accommodation and hospitality service in the world.

SARS replaced the Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) system with the enhanced Tax Compliance Status (TCS) system on eFiling in April 2016. The new TCS system is aimed at improving tax compliance as taxpayers can better manage their TCS and remedy any non-compliance through the 'My Compliance Profile' (MCP) function on eFiling.

Section 1 of the Income Tax Act (ITA) defines a 'dividend' to be any amount transferred by a resident company for the benefit of any person in respect of any share in that company whether by way of a distribution or consideration for a share repurchase, but does not exclude a reduction of contributed tax capital of the company.

The obligation of SARS to collect tax and taxpayers' rights are often at odds with each other. To address this issue, the Budget 2018 proposes to reconcile taxpayers' constitutional rights with SARS' constitutional obligations by including a provision in the Tax Administration Act stipulating that SARS must inform the taxpayer at commencement of the audit when the information will be audited.

South Africa's tax legislation contains controlled foreign company (CFC) rules which aim to prevent South African taxpayers from locating companies in low tax jurisdictions in an effort to avoid paying South African tax.

In South Africa, as with most other countries around the world, there is no guidance and regulation regarding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The Budget Review 2018 (Budget) proposes that the income tax and value-added tax (VAT) legislation be amended to deal with cryptocurrencies, which pose a risk to the South African tax system. Given the current Budget deficit, the imposition of taxes on cryptocurrencies would assist the South African Revenue Service (SARS) with increasing its revenue collection going forward.

On 22 January 2018, at the ripe old age of 90 Minnie Mouse received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This was 40 years after her male counterpart, Mickey, received his star. A stark reminder that, even in the world of make believe, women continue to get a raw deal. 

While the necessary legislative provisions to give effect to the proposed increase are still to be adopted by Parliament, one can accept that the Minister's proposal to increase VAT from 1 April 2018 will be implemented. A number of important issues need to be considered to ensure a seamless transition.

Few market inquiries have captured the attention of South African consumers more than the inquiry into the high costs of data in South Africa. Businesses and consumers will be waiting in anticipation for the outcome of the Commission's inquiry into data costs, which is expected to be finalised in August 2018.