Tag: taxpayer
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How to avoid excessive tax on medical payments
The South African Revenue Service recently published a draft Interpretation Note relating to the taxation of medical lump sums. Employers often provide various incentives to attract and retain employees with scarce skills. One form of benefit is to cover the medical aid contributions of former employees in retirement. This could be an expensive and risky exercise for a taxpayer…
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Wear-and-tear allowance
Capital expenditure incurred in the production of income and in carrying on of a trade does not qualify for a deduction under the so-called general deduction formula in section 11(a) of the Income Tax Act No 58 of 1962 (the Act). The Act does, however, grant deductions or allowances for specific types of capital expenditure…
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Correction of an assessment: Section 93
As portrayed in the Tax Administration Act No 28 of 2011 (TAA), the dispute resolution rules lay out the legal framework to be followed by both the taxpayer and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to resolve disputes. Section 93 of the TAA lists a number of circumstances under which SARS can reduce a taxpayer’s…
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Employee share incentive schemes
Employer companies generally implement employee share incentive schemes to retain and incentivise their employees by enabling the latter to receive indirect benefits from the appreciation in the growth of the company. This is an effective way to offer benefits to employees and encourage their participation and loyalty of employees. Even though these schemes are generally…
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Tax deductions for disability: Retroactive change relating to school fees
Expenditure prescribed by SARS and which is necessarily incurred and paid for by a taxpayer due to a physical impairment or disability is a qualifying medical expense for tax purposes. Taxers incurring such expenses can obtain a tax benefit. An expense does not automatically qualify as a deduction by mere reason of its listing in…
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Deductible or not deductible?
On 15 November 2019, the Cape Town Tax Court handed down judgement in ITC24614. It is yet another judgement concerned with the distinction between expenses of a capital nature or revenue nature – arguably the issue over which there has been the most litigation in South African tax history. The importance of the distinction lies…
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Thinking of selling an asset?
What happens when you sell an asset? When you sell or dispose of an asset, you either realise a profit or a loss from the exchange. When you realise a profit, you are subject to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on that realised profit. Are all assets subject to CGT? Not all assets are subject…
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Requests for suspension of payment from SARS
Since its introduction, the “pay now, argue later” rule relating to disputed amounts of tax has been and remains to be the subject of much controversy, and rightfully so. The basic premise is that even though you disagree with an amount of tax, once you have been assessed by SARS, the amount becomes due and…
