The effect of past transactions on the sale of a business
The sale of a business is often a complex venture and requires consideration of various facts in examining the financial reality behind the sale. From the outset, it is important to consider historical transactions and how they may have a detrimental impact on the current sale being considered. For purposes of this article, several factors […]
Section 42: Asset-for-share transactions
It is often the case that South African tax resident shareholders wish to reorganise their South African group of companies, for a multitude of commercial reasons, without the ultimate shareholders changing. One of these could potentially be to create a single holding company structure. Various group relief provisions are contained in the Income Tax Act […]
Home office expenditure
Taxpayers who are salaried employees have limited deductions available to them. However, home office expenditure can be claimed as an income tax deduction, but the onus is on the taxpayer to prove that the expenses are in fact deductible. For employment to constitute a “trade” and to qualify to deduct home office expenditure, the taxpayer […]
Intra-group transactions and the subsequent sale of assets
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) issued a private binding ruling (BPR329) on 27 September 2019 on the tax implications of intra-group transactions and the subsequent sale of the relevant assets to a third party outside the group of companies. The taxpayer in this regard wants to implement a Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment transaction in […]
What is meant by “connected persons”?
On 28 January 2020, SARS released interpretation note 67 providing guidance on the term “connected persons” in section 1(1) of the Income Tax Act. The interpretation note itself is voluminous but worthy of a short discussion as one may fall within this definition without knowing. The definition allows for the following scenarios to be regarded […]
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 […]
Interest received by non-residents on SA bank accounts
Persons that are not tax resident in South Africa (“SA”) are only taxed in SA on income received by or which accrued to such non-resident from an SA source. This will include interest received on an SA bank account.1 Non-residents may, however, be exempt from SA income tax on interest earned in terms of section 10(1)(h) […]
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 […]