In Taxpayer MLC v Commissioner for SARS (IT 77272) (the “MLC Case”), Eksteen J dismissed an appeal against a 150% understatement penalty for intentional tax evasion and ordered costs against the taxpayer. The outcome is unsurprising.
The Shepstone & Wylie’s National Tax Team’s aim is to be the familiar faces when taxing circumstances arise, or when there is a concern or idea to be discussed.
The Western Cape High Court (Full Bench) has confirmed that taxpayers objecting to an assessment, including an estimated assessment, must submit all documents required to substantiate their grounds of objection, regardless of whether there was an estimated assessment by SARS.
The Gauteng High Court's recent judgment in BASF South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for SARS is likely to become one of the most significant procedural tax judgments of 2026, particularly for taxpayers and SARS litigating transfer pricing disputes.
The Gauteng High Court’s recent judgment in Ndyamara NO and Others v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service has reopened debate around one of South Africa’s most controversial procurement scandals — the failed PRASA locomotive tender involving Swifambo Rail Leasing.
South Africa’s Tax Court has delivered one of the most consequential tax judgments arising from the broader state-capture era, confirming SARS’s additional assessments against Taxpayer LE (Pty) Ltd in a matter involving alleged inflated locomotive procurement costs, offshore ‘business development’ payments, and billions in disputed deductions.
On 22 April 2026, the Constitutional Court handed down its first substantive interpretation of South Africa's General Anti-Avoidance Rules ("GAAR") since they were amended in 2006. In a long-awaited judgment, delivered almost eight years after the SARS audit began, the majority judgment significantly broadened the scope of SARS's GAAR powers.
In today’s interconnected global economy, South African businesses frequently transact with international related parties. While these cross-border arrangements are essential for market alignment and growth, they fall squarely under the oversight of the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) in terms of Section 31 of the Income Tax Act.
If you are a South African taxpayer with offshore interests, the landscape in which you operate is undergoing a fundamental shift. Increased international cooperation and enhanced domestic oversight means that the days of "offshore privacy" are largely behind us, as the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has strengthened its ability to detect undeclared foreign bank accounts, investments (including digital assets like cryptocurrency), and offshore asset-holding structures like companies and trusts. If you need to regularise your affairs, we propose that you consider SARS’ Voluntary Disclosure Program (“VDP”).
The Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) delivered a unanimous judgment in Baseline Civil Contractors (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service on 24 February 2026, providing definitive guidance on the limits of a taxpayer’s ability to amend their case during an appeal. The ruling clarifies the scope of Rule 32(3) of the Tax Court Rules, confirming that while taxpayers have some flexibility, they cannot use an appeal to introduce fundamentally new cases that target parts of an assessment never previously challenged.
The recent media ping-pong between Tshepo Lucky Montana (“Montana”) and the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has brought the country’s attention towards SARS’ obligation to protect taxpayer confidentiality and the very limited circumstances where SARS may disclose any information regarding taxpayers.
The Budget Speech of 2025 was not as devastating as initially expected with the rumours of the 2% VAT increase, although VAT did not remain untouched.
The postponement of the budget speech which was set to take place on Wednesday, 19 February 2025 has left the country questioning exactly what could have been in the budget that was so controversial that the speech could not go ahead but had to be postponed until 12 March 2025.
It is well known that litigation in any court can be a protracted battle. It is a journey that litigants have to be prepared for, both mentally and financially. In the midst of it all, one should weigh up the principles (the subject matter) of the dispute and the commercial advantages of finding a resolution to the matter.
The Davis Tax Committee (DTC) has published final reports in respect of VAT, Corporate Income Tax, Public Benefit Organisations and Wealth Tax.
In 2013, in order to address the differences in tax systems of multiple countries, the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan was adopted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and G20 countries, including South Africa. This resulted in the development of Country-by-Country reporting.
We have recently noted the uncertainty amongst some VAT vendors regarding what rate of VAT to levy on some of their supplies in light of the VAT increase to 15% effective from 1 April 2018.
Currently over 2.3 million taxpayers and traders owe SARS just under R150billion. SARS announced on 9 March 2018 that it has outsourced the older and relatively smaller amounts due to it to a number of debt collection agencies.
In February, Shepstone & Wylie Attorneys, in partnership with the South Africa Institute of Tax Professionals (SAIT), hosted a corporate insights breakfast. Being held on the morning after the Budget Speech, the objective of the breakfast was to provide companies with insight into what to expect both politically and financially in the coming year.
On 18 December 2017, the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No. 17 of 2017 was promulgated, whereby amendments were made to paragraph 43A of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act. The amendment made to Paragraph 43 of the Eighth Schedule effectively provides that buy-backs that meet certain criteria are to be treated as proceeds for CGT purposes.
South African citizens and investors are feeling slightly more optimistic now that Cyril Ramaphosa is the President of the ANC. That being said, however, February’s budget speech is still going to be a tense affair.
This case deals with SARS’ compliance with section 96 of the Tax Administration Act and the need to provide the taxpayer with a statement of the grounds for assessment.
Here we briefly outline the general tax implications when dividends are declared by a company that is a tax resident of South Africa to a shareholder that is not a tax resident of South Africa, as well as dividends declared by a company that is not a tax resident of South Africa to a shareholder that is a tax resident of South Africa.
One of the proposals in the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill,, is that the foreign employment remuneration exemption under section 10(1)(o)(ii) of the Income Tax Act be repealed. South African resident persons rendering services abroad will therefore have their remuneration subjected to South African tax as well as foreign tax. National Treasury and SARS have published a draft response document, and here follows the anticipated changes to this unilateral tax relief provision.
In the recent High Court case of Pienaar Brothers (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service and Another, the Court had to decide whether retrospective fiscal legislation conflicts with South Africa’s constitutional principle
Although South Africa no longer has a safe harbour rule, this does not mean that one will be entitled to deduct all interest paid on a loan. One will only be entitled to do so if one can show that the capital amounts obtained from the loan are of an arm’s length nature.
The Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill published on 19 July 2017 proposes inter alia that the foreign employment remuneration exemption under section 10(1)(o)(ii) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 be repealed, which means that South African resident persons rendering services abroad will have their remuneration subjected to South African tax as well as foreign tax.
On 19 July 2017, National Treasury published the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill 2017, which proposed inter alia that section 7C be extended so as also to apply to interest free or low interest loans, advances or credit that are made by a natural person or a company to a company that is a connected person in relation to a Trust.
This case deals with Section 22(3) of the VAT Act - does the crediting of a loan account constitute payment of consideration?
On 22 February, Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, will again have the unenviable task of presenting the 2017 budget, which, amongst other directives, will aim to alleviate the concerns of the international ratings agencies.
Generally, a vendor is not entitled to deduct input tax on the acquisition of a "motor car." This general rule is however subject to certain exceptions which are contained in the provisos to section 17 (2)(c) of the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991.
In October 2015, the OECD released its BEPS Action 4 Report on Limiting Base Erosion Involving Interest Deductions and Other Financial Payments. Chapter 6 of this report deals with a ‘fixed ratio rule’ - an entity should be able to deduct interest expense up to a specified portion of EBITDA, ensuring that a portion of an entity’s profit remains subject to tax in a country.
The South African Treasury has made far-reaching concessions on the draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and the draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill after public hearings highlighted the concerns of many stakeholders, including leading tax experts.
The Davis Tax Committee released its final interim report on estate duty on 24 August 2016. Recommendations affect the existing tax exemptions applicable to transfers of assets between spouses. The Committee believes that the estate duty regime in South Africa must be reviewed in order to establish an effective and equitable package of major abatements and rates.
On 30 August 2016, following an in-depth state aid investigation launched in June 2014, the European Commission concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple.
On 18 April 2016, SARS updated the ITR14 to include new disclosure requirements in respect of transfer pricing, reflecting the Davis Tax Committee recommendations for inclusion in the Country by County report in terms of the OECD's BEPS Project.
REIT's have become a popular investment tool in SA. It is recommended that investors understand the anomalies of section 25BB of the Income Tax Act prior to investing in REIT's.
Developing countries suffer the most from the consequences of BEPS. In order to overcome these consequences, the OECD/G20 embarked on the BEPS Project, which seeks to eliminate opportunities and close the loopholes for cross-border tax avoidance.
The 2016 Tax Season opened on 1 July for taxpayers submitting for the March 2015 - February 2016 tax year.
On July 20 2016, the National Treasury announced its proposed changes to the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme.
Obesity has become a major concern in South Africa. In order to tackle this problem, the government has proposed a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), with effect from 1 April 2017.
It is important for vendors to ensure that they keep records of all invoices they receive or issue when conducting business, as SARS is entitled to reject a vendor's claim upon failure to provide sufficient documentary evidence.
The Voluntary Disclosure Programme announced by Pravin Gordhan in the recent Budget Speech.
In the main, the tax proposals seek to reduce the fiscal deficit through an increase in excise duties, the general fuel levy and environmental taxes. There will also be an increase in capital gains tax and transfer duty, together with fiscal drag on personal income tax to account for inflation.
This case review puts employees’ tax implications of a company-car scheme back in the spotlight.
SARS’ increased administrative powers to extend prescription periods is a cause for concern and a departure of a long-standing administrative procedure.
Recently, the Kwazulu-Natal High Court considered the nature of tax litigation between the taxpayer and SARS. The court discussed the need for authentic, clear and satisfactory evidence, confidentiality with regard to a section 50 inquiry and the requirement for SARS to act in a fair and constitutional manner.
On 9 July 2015 the South African Revenue Service ("SARS") issued a media statement informing all South African resident taxpayers, who hold foreign bank accounts, that an investigation was underway and taxpayers were therefore requested to make use of its Voluntary Disclosure Programme ("VDP") to regularise their tax affairs.
The VAT process is fairly simple if you have a tax invoice to substantiate your entitlement to an input tax deduction. However, if the supplying vendor fails to issue you with a tax invoice, the question then arises as to whether you, as the recipient vendor, can rely on section 20(7) or section 16(2)(f) of the Vale-Added Tax Act No 89 of 1991 (the “VAT Act”) by using the contract between the parties to substantiate your entitlement to an input tax deduction?
As a taxpayer, if you receive an assessment from the Commissioner of the South African Revenue Services (“SARS”) that you disagree with, you can lodge an objection in line with the Tax Administration Act, No. 28 of 2011 (“the Act”)
The recent Constitutional Court judgment of Paulsen and Another v Slip Knot Investments 777 (Pty) Limited 2015 centered on the common law in duplum rule. The in duplum rule operates to protect debtors from becoming over-indebted to creditors by only allowing arrear interest to accumulate up to the capital amount loaned to a debtor. Interest ceases to run once the accumulated arrear interest equals the capital amount.
South Africa’s Parliamentary Trade and Industry Committee have called for the criminalisation of transfer pricing. Transfer pricing is the setting of the price for goods and services sold between controlled / related legal entities within an enterprise, for example, if a subsidiary company sells goods to a parent company, the cost of those goods is the transfer price.
Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene announced a reduction in the monthly contributions payable by employers and employees.
There appears to be a gradual move towards taxing the wealthy, manifesting itself through, amongst others, an increase of 1% on maximum personal tax rates; increase of transfer duties for properties above R2,25 million.
The determined value in calculating the benefit on the use of a company vehicle will change with effect from March 1st 2015.
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