Accounting tips for small businesses
Accounting tips for small businesses When operating a small business, there are so many important daily tasks to remember especially if you are also the business owner. Your day is most likely jam-packed with numerous to-do lists and other miscellaneous tasks that need completing. When your day is filled up like this, sometimes the last […]
Section 7C – A practical explanation
What is section 7C? This section of the Income Tax Act is an anti-avoidance measure aimed at transactions between connected persons and trusts, where a trust is funded by low interest or interest-free loans. This is usually done to ensure that assets form part of the trust’s capital, and the funder (who is usually a […]
Expats are forced to pay their dues
In a recent Supreme Court of Appeal decision, the court had to determine whether the payment by an employer to tax consultants for providing assistance to the employer’s expatriate employees constituted a taxable benefit, as contemplated in the definition of “gross income” in section 1 of the Income Tax Act[1] read with section 2(e) or (h) […]
Tax over the years
It has often been said that inflation is the destroyer of wealth. To put this statement into a tax perspective, it is interesting to have a look back at historical rates of tax and related interest rates. It is, of course, true that earnings have also increased over the years, but it is nevertheless interesting […]
Taxation of Foreign Employment Income
South Africa has a residence-based tax system, which means residents are taxed on their worldwide income, regardless of where that income was earned. South African tax residents living overseas and earning remuneration in respect of services rendered outside of South Africa are exempt from tax in South Africa, provided that the individual is outside of South Africa for a period or periods exceeding 183 full days (60 of which have to […]
Usufructs and tax consequences
A usufruct is a limited real right in property. The usufruct construct takes the form of a common-law personal servitude, which, as a limited real right, grants the holder (the usufructuary) the right to use someone else’s property, including the fruits. Typical examples include where someone is granted the right to use a house, or […]
Usufructs and tax consequences
A usufruct is a limited real right in property. The usufruct construct takes the form of a common-law personal servitude, which, as a limited real right, grants the holder (the usufructuary) the right to use someone else’s property, including the fruits. Typical examples include where someone is granted the right to use a house, or […]
Trading and tax
On 27 September 2019, just over a year since delivering judgement in another matter with very similar facts, the Supreme Court of Appeal in CSARS v Atlas Copco South Africa (Pty) Ltd (834/2018) [2019] ZASCA 124 gave a judgement on the valuation of trading stock for income tax purposes. The general (and oversimplified) principle is […]
Share incentives – The finer details
Companies, particularly listed companies, offer employees so-called share options (also referred to as share incentive schemes or employee share ownership plans (ESOPs)) as a form of further remuneration and even as an employee retention mechanism. In unpacking and understanding the tax consequences linked to ESOPs, the provisions of section 8C of the Income Tax Act […]
2019 Tax legislative amendment: Dividend stripping
The 2019 tax legislation amendment cycle commenced on 25 June, when National Treasury issued the initial batch of the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill which covers specific provisions that require further consultation. National Treasury will be publishing the full text of the 2019 Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill for public comment in mid-July 2019. One […]