Articles

AUTHOR: STEVEN JONES Paying tax once on your pension is bad enough.  Paying it twice is heartbreaking AS THE global workforce becomes increasingly mobile and retirees seek out international destinations for their golden years, the issue of cross-border taxation has grown in importance. If you’d like to read the rest of this article, please sign up or, if you’re already a member, log in. Sign Up Log In A subscription allows you UNLIMITED access to premium articles and content for less than the price of a cup of coffee! Cancel anytime.

AUTHORS: ALTHEA SOOBYAH, ELMIEN THERON, ETIENNE LOUW, and ROBIN GALLOWAY   VAT increase watered-down; not much else to get excited about   Overall impression ONE OF the biggest issues with the budget every year is that South Africa is not investing in growth-enhancing initiatives with a significant proportion of the budget going to paying off debt and social grants. South Africa urgently needs to look at other ways to increase revenue other than relying on the tax base.  At some point it will reach a saturation point. Furthermore, there is no reining in of government spending.  Consolidated spending is budgeted to increase at an annual above-inflation average of 5.6%, from R2.4 trillion in 2024/25 to R2.83 trillion in 2027/28. If you’d like to read the rest of this article, please sign up or, if you’re already a member, log in. Sign Up Log In A subscription allows you UNLIMITED access to premium articles and content for less than the price of a cup of coffee! Cancel anytime.

AUTHOR: STEVEN JONES   It sounds crazy, but it happens more often than one would think…   MANY A taxpayer has experienced the wrath of SARS when failing to declare all of their income.  The penalties for non-declaration of income are severe—up to 200% of the tax evaded as a consequence of having not declared an amount that is in fact taxable. But declaring too much income?  Is such a thing possible?  My first thought when considering this topic was along the lines of “what kind of an idiot would declare too much income to SARS,” but then I realised that I was being a bit harsh.  After all, we are all human, and anyone can make a mistake. If you have made a genuine error on your tax return, which you then pick up once you get a bill from SARS for more tax than your annual salary, it is fairly simple to request a correction. In the ‘old days’ this would entail requesting a fresh blank form from SARS, completing it with the correct details, and attaching all the supporting documentation together with a grovelling covering letter confessing that you are a complete imbecile, and would the kind folks at SARS please re-assess your return? If you’d like to read the rest of this article, please sign up or, if you’re already a member, log in. Sign Up Log In A subscription allows you UNLIMITED access to premium articles and content for less than the price of a cup of coffee! Cancel anytime.