The South African Income Tax Act contains a number of rules which give rise to onerous tax consequences where a taxpayer’s debts owing is forgiven. These rules were in recent years the subject of comprehensive legislative amendments. During the 2018 budget process, National Treasury indicated that it was aware of unintended tax consequences that arise from these new debt relief rules in the Income Tax Act that became effective for years of assessment beginning on or after 1 January 2018. On 31 May 2018, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) published a feedback summary report from a recent […]