FRINGE BENEFITS PROVIDED TO EMPLOYEES
The Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act[1] lists various benefits that employers may grant to employees which will attract income tax for the employee,[2] and require the employer to also withhold PAYE on the amount of the benefit granted.[3] These provisions act as anti-avoidance measures to avoid employees receiving “masked” remuneration in formats other […]
THE TAXATION OF EMPLOYEE INCENTIVE SCHEMES
It has become popular commercial practice for many employers to design employment incentive schemes whereby employees are remunerated for services rendered over a period of time by allowing them to participate in share incentive schemes. Typically, these schemes take the form of either cash-based settled schemes or share-based settled schemes. The former involves participating employees […]
DEDUCTIBILITY OF SED AND ED EXPENDITURE
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) recently issued a binding private ruling (“BPR”)[1] in which the income tax consequences of expenditure in respect of socio-economic development (“SED”) and enterprise development (“ED”) obligations were considered. The applicant in this case is a company that owns and operates a wind farm that generates electricity. In terms of […]
THE “IN DUPLUM” RULE AND TAX LEGISLATION
The “in duplum” rule originated from the South African common law and has been applied through South African case law for over 100 years. This common law rule specifies that interest on a debt will cease to run (or accrue) when the total amount of arrear interest equals the amount of the principal debt outstanding. […]
TREASURY MOVES TO CLOSE CGT AVOIDANCE LOOPHOLE THROUGH SHARE BUYBACKS
Where one company previously sought to dispose of its shares in another company, it was able to do so without incurring an exposure for capital gains tax (“CGT”) or dividends tax, if that disposal were structured as an issue of shares by the target company to the “purchaser”, followed by a corresponding buyback of shares […]
GONE ARE THE DAYS OF TAX-FREE SALARIES ABROAD
Many South African taxpayers earning a salary abroad have for many years been able to benefit from so-called “double non-taxation”. This would be the case where salaries are earned in countries where the employer country would not tax salaries earned in that country, and where a domestic South African income tax exemption would also be […]
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE TAXATION OF TRUSTS
National Treasury published its much anticipated proposed annual amendments to tax legislation earlier in July. This year the proposed amendments were widely anticipated to shed led on Treasury’s proposals on how to address the perceived abuse of the trust form specifically going forward, especially as relates to the now well known ‘conduit pipe’ principle (in […]
REFORM ON THE TAXATION OF PENSION FUNDS
Some controversy surrounds one of the most significant amendments that would have been effected by the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 25 of 2015, and the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 23 of 2015, being how retirement type funds would have been taxed in future. This includes both the taxation of proceeds from funds, as well […]
THE GENERAL ANTI-AVOIDANCE RULES
The Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (‘Income Tax Act’) contains various specific anti-avoidance rules aimed at preventing the abuse of certain specific sections in the Income Tax Act. However, over and above these specific anti-abuse provisions, the general anti-avoidance rules (‘the GAAR’) would also find application to cover further potential and unforeseen loopholes, or […]
ASSET-FOR-SHARE TRANSACTIONS: TAX FREE RESTRUCTURE
The Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962, contains several so-called ‘group relief’ provisions in terms whereof corporate restructures can take place on a tax neutral basis. One of these is if a transaction comprises an ‘asset-for-share transaction’, or put simply: where a company purchases an asset in exchange for which that company agrees to issue […]
