Davey’s Locker

In 180 TSH 2018 I referred to what I described as a sui generis exception to s 7C of the Income Tax Act (deemed donation of non-charging of official rate of interest), namely a loan advance or credit in circumstances in which trustees vest an amount in a trust...

Tax Ombud’s report 2020 Tucked away in point 38.2 of the sixty-one-page Report and occupying only a half-page is, in my experience of the tax dispute-resolution process, a valuable finding and recommendation by the Tax Ombud, on non-meritorious additional assessments:...

Recent case In circumstances in which a taxpayer fails to pay a ‘tax debt’ (defined in s 1 read with s 169(1) of the Tax Administration Act as being an amount due or payable to SARS), a senior SARS official may, under s 179, issue a notice to a third party holding a...

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...