IRP5 not uploaded? Expect significant delays
When an employer’s failure to upload an IRP5 brings SARS to a grinding halt. One of my clients has recently retired and like all retirees, they went through the whole rigmarole of completing the numerous forms required by their employer retirement fund so that the fund can calculate their lump sum entitlement and monthly pension. […]
Lenders of money are not all ‘money lenders’
In many groups of companies, intra-group loans make sense as a way of funding the operations of the group. If the funds are sourced from outside the group by a borrower entity and then on-lent to other companies within the same group as the borrower, the question is whether the interest incurred by the borrower […]
How to object to your income tax assessment
You and SARS are entitled to have a difference of opinion. This article, which was originally published in the May 2014 issue of Tax Breaks, has been updated to take later developments in SARS’ processes (and e-filing functionality) into account. You’ve got your tax return in on time, and your tax practitioner told you that […]
Disclose your defaults before SARS finds them!
A grim warning for South African taxpayers. Long gone are the days when tax fraudsters could run circles around SARS, which has intensified its efforts to crack down on tax evasion by pursuing criminal action against non-compliant taxpayers. One example is when SARS came knocking on the door of a private hospital and its director, […]
Deducting bond interest when using an access bond facility
You can use a loan re-advance against your house to purchase a rental property, and get the interest allowed as a tax deduction – it just needs to be structured properly One of the questions most frequently asked is whether interest on a bond raised to purchase a rental property is deductible against the rent […]
Tax compliance lives beyond death
A deceased estate takes on a (tax) life of its own while being wound up I started my first job back in September 1987 at the tender age of 18, and approximately nine months later I received my very first income tax return from the Receiver of Revenue (as SARS was known in those days), […]
Personal servitudes and it’s effect on transfer duty
According to reports, given current low interest rates, there have been an uptick in property transactions. Therefore, it is worthwhile considering the potential impact of any transfer duty taxes to be imposed on such transactions. The Transfer Duty Act imposes a transfer duty on the value of any property acquired by any person by way of a transaction, or in any […]
Can SARS correct my assessment?
A taxpayer who is aggrieved by an assessment or decision of SARS against that taxpayer has the right to dispute that assessment or decision. If an original assessment has not been issued, SARS may request a taxpayer to submit an amended return to correct an undisputed error made in the prior return. In the case […]
Arbitrary practices by SARS when issuing assessments
The Tax Administration Act provides for the audit and verification of taxpayers’ tax returns for all taxes administered by the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS). In many instances, such requests for information are general, boiler-plate letters received by taxpayers, not indicating specifically what additional information SARS requires in the circumstances and which supporting […]
Where to find money when you have no money
As COVID-19 has ravaged the economy and stripped it bare of tens of thousands of jobs, there is a real threat to the livelihoods of many ordinary working South Africans. As happens during a time of economic recession, some businesses are unable to pay full salaries, have to scale down and have to let workers […]