SARS Interpretation Note 94 – contingent liabilities assumed in the acquisition of a going concern Importantly, SARS’ application of the latter distinction appears to follow the reasoning put forward by the Privy Council in Commissioner of Inland Revenue v New Zealand Forest Research Institute Ltd, wherein it was held that expenditure incurred in respect of provisions taken over was incurred as part of the purchase price, which was capital in nature and therefore not deductib
On 6 June 2017, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) issued binding private ruling 274 (“BPR 274”). BPR 274 deals with a venture capital company (“VCC”) investing in a company providing and expanding plants for the generation of solar electricity. This brings the number of binding private rulings that SARS has issued in respect of venture capital companies to four ...
On 13 April 2016, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) issued Binding Private Ruling 228 (“BPR 228”), which dealt with the issue whereby a project company becomes an operating company for the purpose of s8EA of the Income Tax Act, No 58 of 1962 (“ITA 1962”). This question is an important one in the context of financing the activities of renewable energy project companies but its relevance stretches further to many other infrastructure-related project companies ...
On 2 June 2017, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) published a draft public notice requiring the submission of country-by-country (“CbC”), master file and local file returns. This marks an important step towards the finalisation of South Africa’s transfer pricing documentation requirements ...
Introduction On 30 April 2019, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) published draft rules, schedules and forms for the implementation of the carbon tax and provided details on the envisaged carbon tax administration, including the registration of clients, licensing of emissions facilities, carbon tax environmental levy accounting and the application of allowances as rebates ...
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has published a public notice (“the Notice”) setting out reportable arrangements and excluded arrangements for purposes of sections 35(2) and 36(4) of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (“TAA”). The Notice was released and became effective on 3 February 2016, replacing all notices previously issued under sections 35(2) and 36(4) of the TAA ...
On 17 March 2016, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) issued an interesting binding private ruling (“BPR 227”) concerning a share subscription transaction which was followed by two share buyback transactions.BPR 227 deals with an area that National Treasury and SARS have identified as a problem, namely where a shareholder disposes of its shares through means of a share buyback as opposed to selling the shares outright to a third party ...
Gone are the days when satellite communication was limited to those brick phones with long antennas. Satellite communications services are gaining traction globally as they offer alternative ways of connecting end users to the Internet and other related communications services. However, as electronic communications services via satellites become more popular and accessible, service providers are met with regulatory challenges ...
The trial of murder-accused Henri van Breda has attracted widespread media attention in recent months. Now, the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) has delivered an important judgment linked to the case regarding the media’s right to broadcast aspects of court proceedings – not only in the Van Breda case, but in other cases too ...
Every minute of every day, 100 bottles of Scotch whisky make their way to South Africa. The lengths we have to go to get your attention! But this is a fact, and it can be found on the website of the Scotch Whisky Association (“SWA”). If you’re a Scotch drinker, this news will make you very happy, as will the news that the SWA has managed to get the term Scotch Whisky registered as a certification mark in South Africa ...
Section 103(2) of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 empowers the Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) for the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) to disallow the setting off of an assessed loss or balance of an assessed loss against the company’s income if the relevant requirements are met ...
The purpose of section 197 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) is to protect and maintain employment in circumstances where a transfer of business takes place. In terms of section 197 and section 197B(1)(b), a “transfer” means the transfer of a business by one employer (the old employer) to another employer (the new employer) as a going concern ...
Section 197 of the South African Labour Relations Act: The ebb and flow of what constitutes a going concern More recently, in 2016, in Rural Maintenance (Pty) Limited and Another v Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality, the Constitutional Court dealt with outsourcing and the impact of a transfer of assets by the outgoing entity in evaluating whether a transfer of a business as a going concern existed ...
Seek advice before signing up to the ISDA Resolution Stay Jurisdictional Modular Protocol It is a matter of time before you, as a market participant, are approached by large institutional derivative, securities lending or repo counterparties from the United Kingdom (“UK”) to sign up to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s Resolution Stay Jurisdictional Modular Protocol (“ISDA JMP”) and the UK jurisdictional module, or before you are asked t
One of the issues an employer is obliged to consult on during a potential retrenchment process is the selection criteria to be applied when determining which employees will be dismissed and which will be retained. In doing so, the employer should aim to reach agreement with the other consulting party/parties on what the selection criteria should be ...
South African law treats sexual harassment as a serious form of misconduct that infringes upon a person’s dignity and other fundamental rights. The seriousness with which it is viewed by the courts is illustrated by the Labour Appeal Court (“LAC”) decision in MEC for Education (North West Provincial Government) v Makubalo ...
“If climate change is a shark, then water is its teeth”. This quote from James P. Bruce, a Canadian hydrogeologist, has never seemed more relevant to the South African context than today in light of recent extreme flooding and drought events. A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour and when that water is released it can have devastating effects, as parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal experienced in 2022 ...
With many clients moving towards cloud computing models and looking to outsource certain components of their business to cloud service providers, we often get asked to advise on the legal risks associated with opting for a single-cloud strategy versus a multi-cloud strategy. A company is reliant on one cloud vendor to provide all elements of the cloud solution if it opts for a single-cloud strategy ...
Imagine listing this as one of a company’s major assets:“A sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.” That’s something Hasbro can do, certainly now that the US Patent and Trademark Office has accepted the company’s trade mark application for the smell of its Play-Doh product ...
The Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”), South Africa’s privacy or data protection legislation, applies to the processing (which includes collection, use, receipt and destruction) of personal information, such as names and contact details, of individuals and juristic persons, in South Africa ...
South Africa’s East Coast Radio listeners recently got a great beginners’ class in trade mark law. It would be a shame if all the people who missed the broadcast lost out.The discussion dealt with a dispute involving the fast-food chain Chicken Licken and a small Durban vegan restaurant called Oh My Soul. It featured an interview with the couple who own the restuarant, Tallulah and Richard Duffin, as well as the attorney acting for Chicken Licken ...
On 1 December 2017, the South African Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, published Government Notice no. 41294, which announced the release of the Competition Amendment Bill, 2017 (the “Competition Bill”) for public comment.Members of the public are invited to submit written comments on the Competition Bill to the Economic Development Department within 60 calendar days of publication of the notice (ie, by 30 January 2018) ...
This article is an updated version of the article published on 16 March 2020. On 15 March 2020, South African President Ramaphosa announced the declaration of a national state of disaster, as a result of the recent events surrounding the rise in coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in South Africa. The declaration of a national disaster was made in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (the "DMA") ...
In the wake of the rapid developments to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Temporary Relief Scheme (“C19 TERS”) in the past few weeks, it is critical that employers remain informed and up-to-date on the latest processes in place. The C19 TERS was established to compensate employees who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF”) ...
Application of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (the "OHASA")? Several health and safety obligations (both general and specific) towards employees are imposed on an employer or user in respect of the "workplace". The term "workplace" is also defined broadly in the OHASA as "any premises or place where a person performs work in the course of his employment" ...
