National Treasury, on 1 May 2020, issued an explanatory memorandum on the revised draft Disaster Management Tax Relief Bill, 2020 which, amongst other things, addresses a proposed increase in the living annuity commutation threshold. This is a draft Bill which is yet...

Living annuity Generally a living annuity (as distinct from a conventional life annuity, under which a fixed rate of return for life is contractually agreed) is a compulsory purchased investment from a financial institution with a minimum two-thirds of a retirement...

Historically, the R100 000 a year donations tax exemption was popularly applied to write down trust loan accounts by estate-planning trust founders/creditors. But, as I said in 201 TSH 2019, any tax-structuring should always take cognizance of its impact upon other...

The s 10(1)(o)(ii) exemption for foreign employment income of tax residents was originally proposed to be limited to R1 million, with effect as from 1 March 2020. This will be increased to R1,25 million, according to Chapter 4 of the Budget Review, published along...

Overview of the tax implications ‘Funder’ attribution There is no straightforward, standard rule in advising an RSA beneficiary of the tax implications of a vested right awarded by the trustees of a foreign trust by way of a distribution. First, you need to enquire...

CGT, estate duty and income tax upon death Any tax-structuring should always take cognisance of its impact on other taxes. For CGT purposes, the default position is that a deceased person is assessed on a ‘deemed disposal’ as at date of death, with the death-exclusion...

A change of tax-residency status is the only sure-fire way to fully obviate the impact of the RSA tax on foreign employment income exceeding R1 million, effective as from 1 March 2020. As I said in 192 TSH 2019, your tax-residency status is one of fact and determined...

SARS has recently issued a draft binding general ruling on the two-tier donations tax regime (see the Monthly Listing).Dual rate of donations tax An amendment came into operation on 1 March 2018, to the effect that a 20% rate applies to the aggregate value of property...

Relief coming soon In circumstances in which annual tax-deduction limits to retirement fund contributions are exceeded, a taxpayer may carry forward the nondeductible portion to the following tax year, under s 11F of the Income Tax Act.Ultimately, upon retirement,...

Tax harmonisation of retirement fund contributions As from 1 March 2016, all contributions to retirement funds (pension, provident and retirement annuity funds) are treated similarly for tax-deduction purposes, under s 11F of the Income Tax Act. The tax-deduction...

And more on s 7C of the Income Tax Act In 168 TSH 2017, I examined the interaction between the various sections of the Income Tax Act pertaining to resident funders of nonresident trusts. It is time to revisit this topic. Attribution rules (s 7(8))Section 7(8)...