The VAT legislation has been amended with effect from 1 April 2014 to give effect to government’s proposal that all foreign suppliers of electronic services in South Africa are required to register for VAT in South Africa ...
A recent decision involving registered designs is a reminder of how useful design law can be, in the sense that it can be used to protect an almost limitless range of products. The decision in the UK case of Ahmet Erol v Sumaira Javaid (Design) (a decision of the Appointed Person, 18 May 2017) does not create any law, but it does illustrate two things. The first is how registered designs can often be very low-tech ...
In order to create a more uniform system for the administration of taxes in South Africa, section 191 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (the “TAA”) has effectively replaced various refund and set-off provisions which appeared in respective tax acts. Section 191 of the TAA now provides that all tax debts that are due must be set-off against refunds, including the interest thereon, due by the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) to that taxpayer ...
Many countries have become more focused on combating tax avoidance. As such, transfer pricing compliance has become much more burdensome due to substantial documentation requirements and multiple filing deadlines. Multinationals (“MNEs”) have to take action to control their transfer pricing risks, but the cost of doing so could substantially increase ...
The recent ruling of the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (‘the Board’) that registrations for the trade mark Redskinsare to be cancelled because they contain ‘matter that is likely to disparage’ made headlines around the world. The Board found that some 30% of Native Americans would be offended by the term, and that this qualifies as a substantial proportion of the relevant class ...
During 2013, a treasury management company regime was introduced for exchange control purposes to encourage the establishment of group treasury management functions in South Africa and to further enhance South Africa’s position as a “gateway into Africa” ...
On 31 May 2019, South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry gazetted certain amendments to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) Codes of Good Practice. These amendments will become effective on 31 November 2019. The following are the key amendments to take note of ...
Punitive proposed amendment to South Africa’s transfer pricing provisions Transfer pricing is a self-assessment mechanism that aims to ensure that taxpayers identify all potential cross-border transactions, operations, schemes, agreements or understandings that have been entered into between connected persons (referred to as “potentially affected transactions”), to ensure that all such potentially affected transactions have been concluded and implemented on an arm&rsqu
On 31 March 2017, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (“ICASA”) published Government Gazette no. 40759 for comment, a discussion document in relation to equity ownership by historically disadvantaged groups and application of the ICT Sector Code in terms of section 4(b) of the ICASA Act, 2000 ...
On 27 March 2020, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy (the “Minister”) published the Amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Regulations (“MPRDA Regulations”) for implementation under GNR.420 inGovernment Gazette43127 (the “Amended Regulations”) ...
During October 2015, as part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”)/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) Project, the OECD issued its final report in respect of Action 7 “Preventing the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status” (“BEPS Report”) ...
On 30 June 2017, after an initial round of public commentary undertaken by the JSE Limited (“JSE”) on the proposed amendments to the JSE Debt Listings Requirements (“DLRs”), the South African Registrar of Securities Services announced that “Part 2” of the 2016 amendments are available on the Financial Services Board’s website for further public comment. The deadline to review and comment on the proposals is 14 July 2017 ...
A significant change to the tax treatment of income which is vested by a South African trust in non-resident beneficiaries has been proposed in Annexure C of the 2023 Budget Review (the “Review”), which sets out additional tax amendments for the upcoming legislative cycle ...
The Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill of 2016 was released for public comment on Friday 8 July (the “2016 TLAB”). It proposes certain amendments to the rules currently contained in the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) dealing with employee-based incentive plans ...
On 22 April 2016, the Financial Services Board (“FSB”) released a set of proposed amendments to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”) Derivatives Rules in Board Notice 49 of 2016. Historically, margin has been provided in cash and paid by the client to the JSE member who then pays the JSE. The proposed amendments would allow market participants to post collateral directly to the JSE by pledging securities in accordance with section 39 of the Financial Markets Act, 2012 (“section 39”) ...
On 5 July 2016, the Registrar of Securities Services posted draft amendments to the JSE Debt Listings Requirements (the “DLRs”) on the Financial Services Board’s website. The proposed amendments are open for public comment until 15 July 2016 ...
Sections 113 and 115 of the Companies Act, 2008 provide for an automatic statutory merger of two companies. The transfer occurs by way of operation of law, and barring any express prohibition to the contrary in a contractual arrangement, no third party consent is generally required to implement the merger. This type of transaction may typically give effect to a desired corporate reorganisation, in terms of which an existing company is liquidated, wound up and/or deregistered ...
The primary remedy for a substantively unfair dismissal is reinstatement, which aims to place an employee into the position he or she would have held had it not been for the substantively unfair dismissal. Generally speaking, reinstatement awards are coupled with orders for back pay, that is, payment of the remuneration that the employee would have enjoyed over the period between the dismissal and the reinstatement order ...
As we previously reported, the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPI”) was signed into law in November 2013. Those provisions which deal with the establishment of the Information Regulator came into effect on 11 April 2014. Expectations are that the President will proclaim the rest of the provisions of POPI into effect once the Information Regulator has been established ...
It’s well known that product shapes can be registered as trade marks. The South African Trade Marks Act, for example, has a very wide definition of the term ‘mark’, and this includes words, colours, numbers, patterns, ornamentation and shape. Yet it’s also well known that product shape trade marks are difficult ...
NEWSFLASH The commencement date of POPIA is no April Fool’s joke. the Chairperson of the Information Regulator, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, recently sent a request to President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare that the remaining provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (“POPIA”) commence on 1 April 2020 (“commencement date”). it is expected that the president will act on this request ...
In November 2022, South Africa is expected to present a report to the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) on the steps it has taken to address the shortcomings identified in the Mutual Evaluation Report concluded last year ...
Many taxpayers are generally aware that there is a prescription provision contained in our tax law. However it is not always understood that the prescription provisions apply only if certain statutory requirements are met. In this regard it is not uncommon for SARS to assess taxpayers beyond the prescription period of three years ...
Alleged base erosion and profit shifting activities of multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) have been a hot issue globally and therefore the chances of an MNE being confronted with a transfer pricing audit have increased substantially over the last few years ...
