Unforeseen tax debt from crypto trading
Landing in a position of indebtedness to SARS can be quite a stressful journey on its own ─ but if you forget to leave room in your suitcase for the tax on your crypto profits or gains, the destination becomes all that more daunting. If you have engaged in crypto trading, even as a hobby, […]
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), […]
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 […]
New Legislation for Marriages on The Way
Being a person’s spouse could have varying tax consequences, particularly where they are married in community of property. Currently, for income tax purposes, you are deemed to be a person’s spouse in the following instances: (a) A person who is in a marriage or customary union recognised in terms of the laws of the Republic; (b) A person who […]
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 […]
BUDGET 2021: WHAT WAS MISSING?
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivered his third annual budget address on 24 February 2021. While there was plenty of information on both income and expenditure issues, as well as proposed tax amendments, some aspects were, concerningly so, not addressed at all. Exchange control In 2020, the Minister indicated that changes would be made to South Africa’s capital flow system regulated through the South African […]