
Court halts SARS’s ‘pay now, argue later’ rule in R531m tax battle
The judgment clarifies that when a taxpayer offers over-collateralised security and SARS cannot explain real risk, suspension should follow.

The judgment clarifies that when a taxpayer offers over-collateralised security and SARS cannot explain real risk, suspension should follow.

Taxpayers challenging assessments in transfer pricing disputes face hidden risks, including the rare possibility that the Tax Court could consider increasing an assessment.

In addition to foreign pensions and trust income, the measures affect death benefits, child maintenance, capital distributions by unit trusts, and assessed losses.

The proposed blanket exemptions for goods and services supplied by schools will force VAT-registered schools to deregister and lose input-tax recovery.

Taxpayers may struggle to challenge SARS’s authority to repatriate foreign assets after a High Court ruling upheld its powers, potentially paving the way for more assertive tax enforcement.

The Tax Court rules against SARS in a dispute over a contingency insurance deduction, reaffirming the legitimacy of the policy and its role in protecting income-generating activities.

The court’s interpretation and application of the conduit principle has implications for structures involving layers of multiple discretionary trusts.