South Africans living or working abroad can no longer avoid the long arm of SARS. Under pressure to meet its revenue quotas, the tax authority has started auditing the country’s non-compliant expatriates in earnest.
The days where SARS shuts its eyes to taxpayers’ offshore holdings are thing of the past. SARS is finally utilising the Automatic Exchange of Information regime to pin down taxpayers who have not disclosed their offshore interests and numerous taxpayers have already received some alarming notices to this effect.
1 March 2021 marks a watershed for retirement funds in South Africa, says Jean du Toit, attorney and head of tax technical at Tax Consulting South Africa.
As a South Africa working and living abroad, there is nothing more frustrating than incessant delays on applications for new and/or renewals of South African Government-issued documentation (referred to as “Civic services”).
December has arrived, and with Christmas around the corner, many employers are left in a pickle when deciding on gestures of good faith and appreciation for their employees.
SARS ordered to repay R1 million wrongfully deducted from Ferrari Logistics The Pretoria High Court has ordered that the SA Revenue Service to refund Ferrari Logistics, from which it wrongfully collected more than R1 million from its bank account by means of a third-party appointment in terms of Section 179 of the Tax Administration Act. […]
The Pretoria High Court has granted SARS’ application to preserve more than R4bn in state capture loot. SARS’ victory in these urgent court proceedings reveals the importance of the taxman’s involvement in recovering proceeds of state capture and bringing the beneficiaries to book.
The tax implications of a restraint of trade payment The law around restraint of trade payments has been made very clear with regard to how these amounts ought to be taxed. Historically, taxpayers endeavoured to structure receipts as restraint payments for tax reasons, as these amounts are capital in nature and thus not subject to […]
With Covid-19, many taxpayers are looking to claim home office expenses. This tax claim is, however, subject to quite complex law which only allows claims in very limited instances.
While the country was under lockdown, it appears SARS and National Treasury have been hard at work, using this time to refine the law in SARS’ favour.