Non-dependent medical expenses
Can you claim medical expenses for someone not a member of your medical scheme? You can, but there are many boxes to tick. Medical scheme membership is normally offered to individuals and their immediate dependents, who would usually be their spouses and children under 18 (unless they are in full-time education, in which case they […]
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), […]
Retirement planning – Distributing retirement fund death benefits
Allocating death benefits, and determining appropriate methods of payment. Once the board of trustees has determined the beneficiaries and is satisfied that its proposed allocation is fair and equitable, the beneficiaries must elect how they would like to receive the death benefit. The final duty of the trustees is to determine the most appropriate manner […]
Investment insights: Maximising interest returns
Navigating the trade-off between liquidity and return. Investors with a more short-term or undefined investment horizon often leave their money in a bank deposit of some sort. Interest rates have been rising during 2022, making bank investments more attractive than they were in the past 12 to 24 months. The key challenge for these investors […]
Deduction for home office expenditure
More and more employers are allowing salaried employees to work from home to avoid wasting productive hours while commuting. Such employees may claim a home office deduction (allowed for under the “Other Deductions” section of the personal income tax return or ITR12 form) if certain strict requirements are met. The deductibility of these expenses is […]
More time to benefit from the learnership tax incentive
The Learnership Tax Incentive, which was introduced in the Income Tax Act on 1 October 2001, is a programme that supports skills intensity through the tax system. To encourage skills development and job creation, the Learnership Tax Incentive provides employers with an additional tax deduction over and above the normal deduction on remuneration. The additional […]
Tax costs of barter transactions
Barter transactions are commonplace in today’s commercial environment. Parties exchange goods or services without a cash transaction underpinning it. The question is, “What happens when I sell the asset in future? Do I have a tax cost for it?” Paragraph 20(1)(a) of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act refers to ‘the expenditure actually incurred in respect of the cost […]
Your retirement ‘gift’ to SARS
Tax payable on your retirement lump sum In last month’s issue of Tax Breaks, we dealt with the tax treatment of retirement lump sums when one resigns or is dismissed (prior to reaching normal retirement age). However, when you actually retire from a retirement fund, the rules are a bit different – and SARS gives […]
Primary residence exclusion: Things to look out for
The Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act, which deals with capital gain tax, allows for exclusion from liability on any gains realised on the sale by a taxpayer of a primary residence on the first R2 million of such gains. There are, however, several more complex matters that often arise in the determination of any gain, and we examine some of those in more […]
Home office expenditure
Taxpayers who are salaried employees have limited deductions available to them. However, home office expenditure can be claimed as an income tax deduction, but the onus is on the taxpayer to prove that the expenses are in fact deductible. For employment to constitute a “trade” and to qualify to deduct home office expenditure, the taxpayer […]