October 19, 2023
There’s a compulsory threshold, but there may be advantages to voluntary registration. Value-added Tax (VAT) registration is a crucial obligation for businesses operating in South Africa. Knowing when to register for VAT is essential to comply with tax laws and avoid penalties. This article discusses the circumstances under which businesses must register for VAT in South Africa, the registration process, and the benefits and responsibilities that come with VAT registration. When you are required to register for VAT: Businesses are required to register their taxable supplies with SARS as a VAT vendor, which include both goods and services that exceed […]
October 19, 2023
How you can protect your assets from predators—including SARS TRUSTS HAVE received a lot of bad press over the past few years, what with SARS taking a dim view of the use of trusts as a means of avoiding tax. A 2008 case involving a property trust, where the beneficiaries were changed in the hope of avoiding the payment of transfer duty, is but one example of SARS’ increased vigilance when it comes to trusts. In this particular case the loophole was closed, and the court found that transfer duty was in fact payable. So does this mean that trusts […]
October 19, 2023
Helping someone out may be exempt from donations tax—but as always, the devil is in the detail… Donations tax is one of those strange taxes where people often question its existence. After all, why would SARS be so mean as to want to tax someone’s generosity? The main reason is estate duty—or, more specifically, the potential avoidance thereof. In fact, if donations tax did not exist, this would open a massive estate duty loophole. Since estate duty is levied at 20% of the taxable value of one’s estate exceeding R3.5 million (and at 25% of the portion exceeding R30 million), […]
October 19, 2023
Landing in a position of indebtedness to SARS can be quite a stressful journey on its own ─ but if you forget to leave room in your suitcase for the tax on your crypto profits or gains, the destination becomes all that more daunting. If you have engaged in crypto trading, even as a hobby, not knowing the underlying tax obligations may just take you to your final (unpleasant) destination! What is a crypto asset? The Taxation Laws Amendment Act 23 of 2020 concretised the classification of a ‘crypto asset’ ─ which, according to SARS, can be described as “a […]