Death and (Capital Gains) Taxes

Section 9HA of the Income Tax Act deals with deemed disposals by a deceased person. This section of the Act often causes some confusion, especially where there are heirs or legatees other than the surviving spouse. In terms of the provision, a deceased person is treated as having disposed of his or her assets at the date of death, for an amount received or accrued equal to […]

SARS TO INTENSIFY ACTION AGAINST TAX OFFENDERS

Despite the fact that SARS has upheld their philosophy of education, service, and thereafter enforcement, they have noticed an increase in taxpayers not submitting their tax returns by the stipulated deadlines, and not settling their outstanding debt with SARS. This is not limited to the current tax year but includes substantial non-compliance across previous tax […]

ZERO RATED VAT: EXPORTS AND SERVICES TO FOREIGNERS

It is often confusing to determine when to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods or services at zero rate (0%) instead of the standard rate of 14%. Below are some basic examples to illustrate the charging of the correct rate by South African VAT vendors. These are general illustrations and it is prudent to […]

USUFRUCT AND CAPITAL GAINS TAX

What is a usufruct? “A usufruct provides to the usufructuary a right of use of property or assets, lifelong or for a specific period, but the usufructuary does not acquire ownership of the relevant property or assets.” Usufruct is often applied as part of estate planning in order to save on Estate duty, as the […]

WILL SARS ALLOW YOU TO DEDUCT YOUR COMPANY/CLOSE CORPORATION’S ASSESSED LOSS?

Under normal circumstances SARS will allow a taxpayer to carry forward the previous tax year’s assessed loss and set it off against the current tax year’s taxable income. However, there are certain circumstances under which SARS will not allow a taxpayer to carry forward the previous year’s assessed loss and the assessed loss will be […]

THE LINK BETWEEN CGT AND INCOME TAX

The name “Capital Gains Tax” (CGT) can create the impression that CGT stands on its own as a separate tax from the rest of the taxes but this is not the case. CGT forms part of the Income Tax system and capital gains and capital losses must be declared in the annual Income Tax return […]