OUTSTANDING TAX RETURNS
Individuals who filed personal income tax returns and found that they owe money to SARS are encouraged to make their outstanding payments by 31 January 2018. This is for taxpayers who filed their returns during the 2017 Tax Season. Acting SARS spokesperson, Mr Sicelo Mkosi expressed that taxpayers who fail to oblige with the deadline […]
TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATES
Taxpayers may require SARS to issue them with a tax clearance certificate for various reasons. This includes a general confirmation that the relevant taxpayer’s affairs are all in order and up to date (a so-called “Good Standing” tax clearance certificate), or a certificate being required to participate in certain government tenders. Perhaps most notably in […]
THIRD PROVISIONAL TAX PAYMENTS
Provisional taxpayers are required to submit two returns annually: one after six months from the start of the relevant year of assessment, and again one on the last day of the relevant tax year.[1] Since provisional taxpayers are taxpayers who earn income in a form other than salaried income (and from which PAYE is deducted […]
IMPORTANT SARS DATES
There appears to be an increased focus recently by SARS in relation to tax compliance. We therefore want to highlight the below important dates again to our clients to ensure that they are always fully tax compliant. Non-compliance may lead to penalties being imposed against defaulting taxpayers, but also has wider potential implications. This includes […]
WITHHOLDING TAX ON PROPERTY SOLD BY NON-RESIDENTS
A remarkable number of non-residents own property in South Africa. While non-residents are not subject to South African capital gains tax generally, an exception is to be found where non-residents dispose of South African immovable property, or shares in “South African property rich” companies.A obvious practical difficulty arises though for SARS to collect taxes from […]
A TIMING ANOMOLY WHEN DISPOSING OF PROPERTY
Property related transactions are typically significant transactions, and therefore tax considerations linked thereto should be carefully considered. One such consideration involves the timing of the disposal of immovable property that was held by persons as capital assets. Sales of such property will comprise a transaction subject to capital gains tax (“CGT”). This article considers when […]
INTEREST FREE LOANS TO DIRECTORS
It is very often the case that a company extends an interest free or low interest loan to a director. This manifests either as a true incentive or benefit to that director (mostly the case in larger corporate environments) or in a small business environment in lieu of salaries paid. The latter is especially the […]
PAYE AND DIRECTORS’ (AND MEMBERS’) REMUNERATION FROM 1 MARCH 2017
Many would have noted reports in the national media that the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 16 of 2016, was signed into law by President Zuma on 11 January 2017. One of the many changes that the Act brings into effect is the repeal of paragraph 11C of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, […]
EXPLAINING ZERO RATED VAT
Value-Added Tax, or VAT, is currently typically charged at 14% on all taxable supplies of goods or services rendered by registered VAT vendors. Taxable supplies exclude exempt supplies, such as providing financial services, residential accommodation or educational services (see section 12 of the Value-Added Tax Act, 89 of 1991). Where a VAT vendor makes exempt […]
DIVIDENDS TAX COMPLIANCE
Our clients will know that the dividends tax replaced the old Secondary Tax on Companies (“STC”) effectively 1 April 2012 already. Briefly, the STC was a tax on companies and calculated as a factor of dividends declared by that company. The regime was somewhat out of touch with international trends though (which also gave rise […]
