Legal updates and opinions

By Erich Bell, Director, Werksmans Tax Proprietary Limited The Draft Disaster Management Tax Relief Bill, 2020 and Disaster Management Tax Relief Administration Bill, 2020 were published [...]

By Robyn Armstrong, Director Interest payments are generally viewed as an ordinary business expense which are deductible in determining taxable income. Varying corporate income tax rates [...]

By Ryan Killoran, Director It is fairly common for a subsidiary company to hold shares in its holding company, colloquially referred to as treasury shares. Subsidiary [...]

By: The Werksmans Tax Team   INTRODUCTION From 2015/2016, year on year there have been upward adjustments to the various tax rates, including the increase in [...]

By Michiel Heyns, Senior Associate and Nicholas Fairbairn, Candidate Attorney Reviewed by Doelie Lessing, Director and Jacques van Wyk, Director Often employment law disputes at the [...]

By Ernest Mazansky, Head of Tax Practice, Werksmans Attorneys TAX AMENDMENTS 2019 The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, 2019, the Tax [...]

By Robyn Armstrong, Senior Associate Reviewed by Ernest Mazansky, Director On 1 October 2001, the rate of donations tax levied on donations made by residents dropped [...]

By Erich Bell, Director In the recent case of BMW South Africa (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (1156/18) [2019] ZASCA [...]

There has been a lot of recent media attention surrounding the EB-5 Investment Visa Program, and for good reason. South African residents are not able to [...]

By Erich Bell, Director and Ryan Damon, Candidate Attorney During 2017 and 2018, several changes pertaining to the tax treatment of share buy-backs and so-called "dividend [...]

By Ernest Mazansky, Director, Head of Tax Practice, Werksmans Tax (Pty) Ltd INTRODUCTION As is widely known, the general principle is that SARS may not reopen [...]

By Doelie Lessing, Director and Nicholas Fairbairn, Candidate Attorney On 13 December 2018, the South African Revenue Service issued Binding Private Ruling 314, which deals with [...]

Section 8C of the Income Tax Act 1962 (the Act) includes in a taxpayer's income any gains or losses made upon the vesting of an equity instrument [...]

The SARS states, on its website (www.sars.gov.za), that its "Interpretation Notes are intended to provide guidelines to stakeholders (both internal and external) on the interpretation and [...]

INTRODUCTION At about this time last year I wrote an article in relation to a decision of the Port Elizabeth Tax Court (case number 13539/13673), which [...]

The general principle is that South African resident individuals who have settled offshore trusts are taxed on the income and capital gains of that trust (or [...]

Reviewed by Ernest Mazansky, Head of Tax Practice A recent judgment handed down in the Pretoria High Court last month highlights SARS's intransigence when applying certain [...]

INTRODUCTION In a recent Werksmans Tax Brief (https://bit.ly/2K2emv1) we discussed the current SARS view on the South African tax treatment of cryptocurrencies ("cryptos"). However, an area [...]

The advent of cryptocurrencies, and in particular the substantial gains that are associated with investments in cryptocurrencies, caught the attention and interest of the world – [...]

The taxation of collective investment schemes ("CIS") and their participatory interest holders is governed by sections 25BA and 10(1)(iB) of the Income Tax Act, No 58 [...]

By: The Werksmans Tax Team INTRODUCTION Despite it being widely expected that this year's Budget would add to the ever-increasing burden of South African taxpayers, the [...]

INTRODUCTION   The participation exemption provides a useful and simple tax planning tool which should always be considered when dealing with cross-border merger and acquisition transactions [...]

INTRODUCTION   For as long as anyone can remember, a tension has existed between the rules relating to the valuation of closing stock or inventory for [...]

Two of this year's draft tax amendments are extremely contentious. These are the draft amendments in relation to: share buybacks; and the characterisation of offshore companies [...]