TAX
June 29, 2010
SARS steps up control over illegal imports
Bekezela Phakathi
Business Day
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has stepped up its efforts to protect the local clothing industry by introducing measures aimed at regulating clothing imports, mainly from China. Figures released last week by the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union claim that 14 400 jobs have been lost in SA’s textile sector over the past year as a result of counterfeit World Cup apparel, mainly from China. Union general secretary Andre Kriel said last week that 2 000 jobs had been lost in Cape Town. “Soccer supporters and South African citizens can save these jobs and grow the manufacturing capacity by ensuring they buy locally made products,” he said.
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June 23, 2010
SARS forked out R352m on anticorruption, security
Linda Ensor
Business Day
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has spent R352m over the past two fiscal years on anticorruption and security, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said yesterday, with the total budget for the current year amounting to just less than R200m. The investment was well worth it, Mr Gordhan suggested, as it was essential for the public to perceive SARS as having the highest levels of integrity, fairness and honesty for there to be compliance with tax and customs legislation.
June 08, 2010
Taxpayers granted a grace period
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Noncompliant taxpayers will be given a 12-month grace period in which to put their tax affairs in order, according to draft tax laws recently released by the National Treasury. The voluntary disclosure programme, contained in the Taxation Laws Second Amendment Draft Bill, is not a tax amnesty, as taxpayers would still have to pay the outstanding tax they owed on assets or income, tax analysts said yesterday. However, taxpayers who took advantage of the programme would be able to “come clean” without having to pay additional tax, penalties and interest on their defaults, said Paula Bagraim, a tax director at Stonehage Financial Services.
May 24, 2010
Draft tax regime ‘would encourage investment in SA’
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
A new “tax friendly” regime is to be implemented in SA for foreign companies based in the country and wanting to invest on the African continent, according to new draft tax laws. The proposed regional holding companies regime will enable foreign companies to set up headquarters in SA without any significant tax exposure while expanding on the continent. “The purpose of the new holding company regime is to encourage long-term investment into SA,” said Emil Brincker, a tax director at commercial law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.
May 12, 2010
Imuniti raided in SARS probe of pyramid scheme
Tamar Kahn and Linda Ensor
Business Day
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is investigating Imuniti Holdings’ alleged involvement in a R100m pyramid scheme. Imuniti is a small Durban-based healthcare company listed on the AltX, with a market capitalisation of R28,3m, according to Bloomberg. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the crackdown in his budget speech to Parliament, saying investigators were looking into “a multimillion-rand suspected fraudulent investment scheme involving the abuse of trust of vulnerable citizens — this time the product is a so-called immune booster pack for HIV/AIDS sufferers”.
May 11, 2010
The Bottom Line
Edward West
Business Day
Tax analysts are at loggerheads on the taxation of World Cup “giveaways” (T-shirts and tickets) by companies to employees. Some warned recently that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) would tax employees on freebies and other fringe benefits. For some companies the World Cup is a corporate branding opportunity, and they are getting staff to wear T-shirts, branded with their names and logos. Some companies will send these shirts to charitable organisations when the World Cup is over as part of corporate social responsibility programmes. Nazrien Kader, a tax director at Deloitte, says none of these initiatives should...
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June 08, 2010
SA banks pleased global tax is axed
Sure Kamhunga
Business Day
Bankers and tax experts in SA said yesterday common sense had prevailed when the Group of 20 (G-20) countries agreed a global bank tax was not a good idea. They said they should not be made to pay for the sins of their more adventurous counterparts in the US and Europe that largely led to last year’s financial crisis. Rather than imposing a tax that would unfairly punish countries whose banks did not need to be rescued with public funds, they said proponents of the tax should instead focus on cleaning up the mess caused by their own financial services sector.
June 02, 2010
Company car’s days may be numbered by proposed tax laws
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Proposed new tax laws are set to tighten the noose on the abuse of car and travel allowances that have cost the government billions of rand in lost revenue. The draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, which is expected to come into effect on March 1 next year, will sound the death knell for taxpayers using company cars, say tax analysts. “It looks like the days of company cars may be numbered,” said Vedika Andhee, a tax director at Ernst & Young, earlier this week. More than a half-million taxpayers make use of car and travel allowances, one of the two remaining fringe benefits available to them. The other benefit is medical aid.
May 14, 2010
SARS says employees must pay tax on free soccer T-shirts
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says that soccer T-shirts given to employees free of charge to wear on Fridays are taxable fringe benefits and employees must pay tax on them. SARS said yesterday that employers who provided their employees with T-shirts bearing company logos were not giving them “uniforms”. Spokesman Sibabalwenathi Mfabe said the soccer jerseys worn on Fridays were not required to be worn as a condition of employment and could be distinguished from ordinary clothing under the income tax laws. Therefore no tax exemption was allowed.
May 11, 2010
Taxman walks revenue-incentive tightrope
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Tax authorities around the world are seeking ways to raise the most revenue they can without choking off the recovery from the recession. The challenge for governments is to ensure sufficient revenue for the future, while at the same time encouraging economic growth and investment, say tax analysts. SA is not alone in its battle to collect revenue. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) collected R598,5bn for the 2009-10 financial year. While this was R8,1bn more than estimated at budget time in February, it was R27,07bn less than the R625,57bn collected in the 2008-09 financial year, a decline of 4,3%.
April 29, 2010
SARS casts envious gaze at 2010 freebies
Sanchia Temkin
Business Day
Companies that are planning to give staff free tickets, T-shirts, vuvuzelas and other memorabilia in the spirit of the Soccer World Cup need to think twice, tax analysts warn. Employees will be taxed on these and other fringe benefits by the South African Revenue Service (SARS). Vedika Andhee, a director for tax at Ernst & Young, said yesterday that any gifts staff received from employers had to be declared and tax paid on them as a fringe benefit. Andhee said employers often did not realise giving gifts such as soccer tickets actually constituted a fringe benefit and was subject to employees’ tax, or PAYE.
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MORE ARTICLES:
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The Bottom Line
April 16, 2010
SARS continues to fine-tune returns
April 07, 2010
SA bucks global trend of rising tax controversy, litigation
April 06, 2010
Gordhan upbeat as tax haul bounces back
April 06, 2010
Sars’ drive trims budget deficit
April 04, 2010
Sly tax that hurts small businesses
April 04, 2010
SARS investigated 1740 individual taxpayers last year
March 11, 2010
Cosatu calls for a special wealth tax
March 01, 2010
Not even chocolate’s safe
February 26, 2010
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