Navigating double taxation agreements in retirement planning
DTAs shape the taxation of lump sums and annuities. This is what financial advisers can do to preserve clients’ retirement benefits.
#SouthAfricanRevenueService
Draft amendments narrow taxpayers’ ‘bona fide inadvertent error’ defence
The proposal restricts the ‘bona fide inadvertent error’ defence under the understatement penalty regime to cases where the tax shortfall is a ‘substantial understatement’.
SA residents face taxation on previously untaxed foreign pension benefits
The amendment treats foreign pension benefits like other residence-sourced income, shifting the retirement planning landscape for South Africans who worked overseas.
Sticky VAT thresholds create ‘economic distortion’
Tax specialists say stagnant thresholds have the opposite effect of policy aims – instead of freeing SMEs to scale up, they incentivise remaining under the threshold.
Tax disputes: compliance and the interests of justice trump rigid timelines
The Supreme Court of Appeal found in favour of SARS despite it ignoring a 45-day timeline for more than a year.
SARS: Almost 100% of its auto assessments are accurate
Tax practitioners say the headline statistic may obscure the true extent of incomplete auto assessments.
Scammers want your refunds – stay sharp this filing season
As individual tax filing season officially opens today, SARS warns taxpayers to stay vigilant against a surge in sophisticated scams.
SCA confirms validity of a tax opinion when it is correct in fact and law
Supreme Court rejects SARS’s argument that the expert’s opinion was tainted by self-interest because of the fee he would earn.
SARB: Two-pot system adds two percentage points to PIT growth
Even after record withdrawals, retirement fund assets expanded in the third and fourth quarters of 2024, driven by movements in financial markets.
Need for trust and taxpayer support to drive voluntary tax compliance
Despite improvements in taxpayer education and system simplification, low trust in government remains the biggest barrier to voluntary compliance in Africa.
SARS escalates crypto crackdown – how to advise clients
Whether clients are long-term holders of crypto or occasional traders, transparency now is better than an audit later.
Why few taxpayers report eFiling profile hijackings to the police
Low-income earners fear being ignored, while high-income earners and large businesses find the police to be inefficient.
Here are the deadlines for the 2025 tax season
What taxpayers should know about auto-assessments and who is required to file an income tax return.
Beefed-up SARS might stave off R20bn in tax increases in 2026
An inflation-linked rise in the general fuel levy will in no way be sufficient to plug the revenue hole left by scrapping the two VAT increases.
Budget gap widens as revenue projections slide
The revised Budget reveals the hard truth: with limited borrowing room and rising demands, Treasury must make tough calls on what to fund – and what to cut.
SCA upholds pre-commencement tax debts in business rescue
The Supreme Court of Appeal confirms that re-quantifying a tax debt post-rescue commencement doesn’t create a new, preferential liability – cementing SARS’s place as a concurrent creditor under an approved rescue plan.
Budget 3.0 coming after court-backed VAT suspension and new Rates Bill
SARS tells vendors there is now no legal basis for them to charge consumers VAT of 15.5% from 1 May.
