Changes to Income Tax returns for trusts

Tax , ,

The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) implemented several changes to the income tax returns for trusts (the ITR12T) on 26 February 2018. These changes apply in respect of the year of assessment ending on or after 28 February 2017, unless taxpayers have already saved or submitted the relevant 2017 ITR12T prior to the implementation of these latest changes.

 

One of the important changes includes the updating of the supporting trust participant schedule to the ITR12T in order to identify loans granted to the trust that are subject to the provisions of the newly introduced section 7C of the Income Tax Act.[1] This section deals with interest-free or low-interest loans to a trust that are made directly or indirectly by a natural person or a company in certain specific circumstances. Should these provisions apply, section 7C deems the interest foregone on the loan to be a continuing annual donation that attracts donations tax. This donation is deemed to be made on the last day of the year of assessment of the trust[2] (which is generally the last day of February) and is payable by the end of the month following the month during which the donation takes effect (which would then be the end of March).[3]

 

Also, trusts that are collective investment schemes or employee share incentive schemes are no longer required to disclose information relating to the details of persons that transacted with the trust. However, all other trusts must ensure that income distributed by the trust to other persons are fully disclosed. Additional validations in this regard were therefore also introduced.

 

Other amendments to the ITR12T include the introduction of a new local income type which relates to dividends that are deemed to be income in terms of section 8E and section 8EA of the Income Tax Act. (These provisions are aimed at penalising debt instruments that have been disguised as equity in order to avoid tax.)

 

The ITR12T also includes a new detailed schedule relating to learnerships for purposes of claiming the deduction in terms of section 12H of the Income Tax Act. Separate disclosure is required for learners with a disability and learners without a disability for both NQF levels 1 to 6 and NQF levels 7 to 10. Also, the number of learners and the allowance amount for each of these fields must be completed.

 

The take away is that trusts should carefully consider these new requirements in order to ensure that the new ITR12T is completed correctly.

 

[1] No. 58 of 1962

[2] Section 7C of the Income Tax Act

[3] Section 60(1) of the Income Tax Act

 

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

Valid Tax Invoice Requirements for VAT Vendors

Tax , ,

When making a purchase for your business, you should always ensure you receive a valid VAT invoice. This enables you to claim input VAT from SARS. With the change in VAT rate from 14% to 15%, VAT has come under the spotlight. This brings more focus on VAT compliance and more specifically on when we can claim input VAT on an invoice, and what constitutes a valid VAT invoice. This is something small that is very much neglected when it comes to monthly bookkeeping. It is very important to pay attention to the invoices that are sent to your accountants as these invoices need to be “valid” before the input VAT can be claimed from the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

 

Please read through the following crucial information carefully with regard to valid VAT invoices.

 

South Africa operates on a VAT system whereby VAT registered businesses are allowed to claim the VAT (input VAT) incurred on business expenses from the VAT collected (output VAT) on the supplies made by the business. The most crucial document in such a system is the tax invoice. Without a valid tax invoice, a business cannot deduct input tax paid on business expenses.

 

The VAT Act prescribes that a tax invoice must contain certain details about the taxable supply made by the business as well as the parties to the transaction. The VAT Act also prescribes the timeframe within which a tax invoice must be issued (i.e. 21 days from the time the supply was made).

 

A business is required to issue a full tax invoice when the price is more than R5 000 and may issue an abridged tax invoice when the consideration for the supply is R 5 000 or less than R5 000. No tax invoice is needed for a supply of R50 or less. However, a document such as a till slip or sales docket indicating the VAT charged by the supplier will still be required to verify the tax deducted.

 

As from 8 January 2016, the following information must be present on a tax invoice for it to be considered valid by SARS:

  • Contains the words “Tax Invoice”, “VAT Invoice” or “Invoice”;
  • Name, address and VAT registration number of the supplier;
  • Name, address and where the recipient is a vendor, the recipient’s VAT registration number;
  • Serial number and date of issue of invoice;
  • Correct description of goods and /or services (indicating where the applicable goods are second hand);
  • Quantity or volume of goods or services supplied; and
  • Value of the supply, the amount of tax charged and the consideration of the supply.

 

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

2018 Tax Season: SARS shortens submission period

Tax , ,

The annual tax filing season is upon us and acting SARS Commissioner, Mark Kingon, announced that the season will open on 1 July 2018 for eFilers. SARS branches will assist taxpayers from 2 July 2018. The filing season will then end on 31 October.

 

To improve efficiency, the season will be shortened by three weeks, which will allow additional time for SARS, taxpayers, and the tax fraternity in general, to deal with all tax verifications before the December holiday break.

 

Manual and provisional taxpayers submission deadlines:

 

Type of Taxpayer Channel Deadline
Non-provisional and provisional Manual – post or at SARS branch drop boxes 21 September 2018
Non-provisional eFiling or electronic filing at SARS branch 31 October 2018
Provisional eFiling 31 January 2019

 

Who does this shortened filing season impact?

 

  • All individual non-provisional taxpayers
  • Provisional taxpayers who opt to file at a branch
  • Provisional taxpayers who use eFiling

 

A taxpayer is completely exempt from submitting a tax return if all the following criteria apply:

 

  • The taxpayer’s total employment income/salary for the year of assessment (March 2017-February 2018) before tax was no more than R350 000.
  • Employment income/salary for the year of assessment was received from one employer.
  • The taxpayer has no other form of income, e.g.:
  • car allowance or company car fringe benefit
  • business income
  • taxable interest
  • rental income
  • income from another job.
  • The taxpayer does not want to claim for any additional allowable tax related deductions or rebates (e.g. medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions, travel expenses, etc).

 

Should you have any questions related to the 2018 tax return season, please feel free to contact us.

 

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

 

References:

 

Sars.gov.za. (2018). Tax Season. [online] Available at: http://www.sars.gov.za/TaxTypes/PIT/Tax-Season/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 5 Jun. 2018].

 

Fin24. (2018). SARS cuts deadline for tax returns. [online] Available at: https://www.fin24.com/Money/Tax/sars-cuts-deadline-for-tax-returns-20180604 [Accessed 5 Jun. 2018].

 

Sars.gov.za. (2018). 4 June 2018 – Tax Season 2018. [online] Available at: http://www.sars.gov.za/Media/MediaReleases/Pages/4-June-2018—Tax-Season-2018.aspx [Accessed 5 Jun. 2018].

Tax deductions against salary earnings

Tax , ,

Our clients who earn only a salary will know that very few tax deductions are available against salary income for income tax purposes and whereby they may reduce the taxable income derived ultimately from such remunerations. Section 23(m) of the Income Tax Act[1] provides that none of the deductions ordinarily available to taxpayers in terms of section 11 are allowed against salary income, other than for a limited few. We set out these deductions which are available below:

 

  1. Contributions made by taxpayers to a pension fund, provident fund or retirement annuity fund may be deducted against salary income in accordance with the provisions of section 11F;
  2. To the extent that an individual incurs legal fees, wear and tear-related costs or bad or doubtful debts as part of his/her employment, such expenditure will be deductible.[2] (Although it is possible that a wear and tear-related allowance may be available against a laptop or textbooks acquired as example, it is in our experience practically highly unlikely for legal fees, bad debts and doubtful debts to arise from an employment trade);
  3. Where amounts received, either as a restraint of trade payment or as ordinary remuneration for employment services rendered, are refunded by the employee, those amounts refunded may be legitimately claimed as an income tax deduction;[3] and
  4. Expenses incurred towards rent of, cost of repairs[4] of or expenses in connection with any dwelling, house or domestic premises, those costs may be claimed as deductions, to the extent that it is incurred as part of the individual’s employment and on condition that it does not offend the provisions of section 23(b) which deal with “home office” expenses.

 

Other than for the above, very few other deductions are available for individual taxpayers earning only a salary. Outside the ambit of section 11, the only other deductions which we typically encounter are medical aid contributions incurred, amounts claimed against travel allowances received or donations made to qualifying public benefit organisations. Of late, investments in section 12J “venture capital companies” may also be claimed as income tax deductions against salary income.

 

The above limitations only apply to salaried income received from employment though. Where an individual is also engaged in another trade (such as the renting out of an apartment), the above limitations do not apply to that separate trade. In such case, section 23(m) will not make the deductions in section 11 unavailable, although this is only as relates to the separate (rental) trade.

 

[1] No. 58 of 1962.

[2] Sections 11(a), (c), (i) and (j) respectively.

[3] Sections 11(nA) and (nB) respectively.

[4] In terms of section 11(d).

 

 

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

CGT exit charge

Tax , ,

In terms of section 1 of the Income Tax Act[1] a natural person will be a “resident” for tax purposes if that person is ordinarily resident in the Republic of South Africa (“the Republic”). Persons who are not at any time during the relevant year of assessment ordinarily resident in the Republic, will also qualify as “residents” if they meet the so-called physical presence test. The definition of “resident” furthermore specifically excludes any person who is deemed to be exclusively resident of another country for purposes of the application of any double tax agreement entered into between South Africa and that other country.

 

When leaving the Republic to go work and live in another country, it may therefore result in such person ceasing to be a “resident”. In these circumstances, careful consideration should be given to the possible capital gains tax (“CGT”) consequences which may arise.

 

Section 9H of the Income Tax Act provides that where a person ceases to be a resident for tax purposes, the person must be treated as having disposed of his/her assets for an amount equal to the market value of such assets (the so-called “CGT exit charge”), in other words, a price which would be obtained between a willing buyer and a willing seller on an arm’s length basis. This disposal is deemed to take place the day immediately before the individual ceases to be a tax resident. The person is furthermore deemed to immediately reacquire such assets at a cost equal to this same market value, which expenditure must be treated as an amount of expenditure actually incurred for the purposes of paragraph 20(1)(a) of the Eighth Schedule. In other words, the market value of the assets at the time of the exit will be treated as the base cost of such assets in the future.

 

The CGT exit charge does not apply to immovable property situated in the Republic held by that person or any asset which after cessation of residence becomes attributable to a permanent establishment of that person in the Republic. Also excluded are certain qualifying equity shares received in terms of broad-based employee share plans,[2] as well as qualifying equity instruments or rights to acquire certain “marketable securities”.[3]

 

Persons leaving the Republic either permanently or for extended periods should therefore consider whether or not they cease to be residents in the Republic for tax purposes and whether the CGT exit charges may apply to them.

 

[1] No. 58 of 1962

[2] See section 8B

[3] See sections 8A and 8C respectively

 

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

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