New regulations that ban businesses from imposing excessive fees on consumers making payments will extend to small businesses from 12 June 2014. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (the 'regulations') - the first of many legislative changes that form part of the major ongoing overhaul of consumer protection legislation - came into force for most businesses on 6 April 2013 ...
CONTENTS Proposed General Anti-treaty Shopping Rule : Private Investment Funds Will Need to Play it SafeRegistration Requirements of Venture Capital and Private Equity Fund Managers in Canada : A Favourable Regulatory FrameworkBill 1 : New Requiremetns for Public Calls for Tenders LAVERY: A LEADER IN MONTREAL IN THE PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRYCreating and setting up private equity and venture capital funds are complex initiati
The Lower House of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is considering in the first reading the Supplementary Agreement amending the Social Security Agreement between the Czech Republic and the USA. As soon as it takes force and effect, the Social Security Agreement between the Czech Republic and the USA will also cover health insurance ...
With international marketers readying for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA) has released Ambush Marketing: A Global Legal Perspective, which summarizes laws and other rules governing ambush marketing in 52 countries around the world ...
Introduction This is the first in a series of articles on venture capital companies, a tax-favoured investment vehicle regulated by section 12J of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (“ITA 1962”). The venture capital company (“VCC”) scheme, introduced in 2009, is a tax-based scheme designed to encourage individual and corporate investors to invest in a range of smaller, higher-risk trading companies by investing through the VCCs ...
Most employers are aware that a travel allowance may be granted to an employee where it is anticipated that the employee will be required to undertake business travel by virtue of the duties of his/her employment and that a travel allowance should not be merely used as a mechanism to reduce an employee’s employees’ tax (“PAYE”) liability ...
VAT vendors who make taxable supplies of goods or services are obliged to issue tax invoices to the recipients of such supplies within 21 days of having made such a supply. A valid tax invoice is of utmost importance because without such a document a vendor, being the recipient of a supply, is not entitled to claim any input tax deductions in respect of goods or services acquired in the course or furtherance of making taxable supplies ...
It has a long been a principle of company law that the debts of a company are not the debts of its shareholders. It may be a surprise to some that this principle does not apply to certain tax debts thanks to section 181 of the Tax Administration Act No.28 of 2011 (“section 181”). This section allows shareholders to be held jointly or individually liable for the tax debts of their company. At first glance it seems unfair to punish those who do not manage the day-to-day running of a company ...
Our clients from outside the province of Quebec often ask us the following questions: what are the linguistic labelling requirements in Canada, and particularly Quebec? There are several statutes and regulations governing labelling in Quebec and Canada. The following is a summary of some of the major points relating to the use of the French language ...
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 ...
In a surprise announcement on 21 March 2014, the Zambian government with immediate effect abolished exchange control regulations introduced in 2012 and 2013 in an attempt to halt the rapid devaluation of the Kwacha. When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in Zambia in 1991, the new government’s priorities were the restoration of economic future growth and employment through liberalising the economy and allowing market forces a greater role ...
On 21 February 2014 the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, (‘the Convention’) as amended, by the provisions of the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which entered into force on 1 June 2011 was published in the Government Gazette. The Convention was approved by Parliament in terms of section 231 of the Constitution and the Convention took effect on 1 March 2014 in South Africa ...
On 14 February 2014 the South African Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) gave notice of its intention to prohibit the use of a large number of European food and drinks names in terms of section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act (MMA) - confusingly the notice also makes reference to section 13 of the MMA, a section that no longer exists ...
New Regulations Governing Consumer Claims and Language Use in Consumer Information The Croatian Consumer Protection Act has recently updated how customer claims are to be handled. The receipt of complaints must now be confirmed in writing without delay ...
The movement of information across national borders drives today’s global economy. Cross-border data transfers allow businesses and consumers access to the best available technology and services, wherever those resources may be located around the world. The free-flow of data across borders benefits all industry sectors, from manufacturing to financial services, education, health care and beyond ...
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has extensive powers in terms of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (“the TAA”). In terms of section 46(1) of the TAA, SARS may, for the purposes of the administration of a tax Act in relation to a taxpayer (“Taxpayer”), require such taxpayer or another person (“Third Party”) to submit relevant material that SARS requires within a reasonable period. SARS may require such relevant material to be submitted orally or in writing ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 31 of 2013 (the “TLAA”) introduced with effect from 1 April 2014, a new section 8F into the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) in order to reduce the opportunity for the creation of equity instruments that are artificially disguised as debt instruments (“hybrid debt instruments”) ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 31 of 2013 introduced amendments to the VAT registration provisions contained in the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (“the VAT Act”), aimed primarily at streamlining the VAT registration process. These amendments came into force on 1 April 2014 ...
On 7th March 2014 the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered judgment in the as yet unreported case of Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd, (966/2012) [2014] ZASCA 4 (7 March 2014) which dealt with the deductibility of audit fees incurred for a dual or mixed purpose and the apportionment thereof for tax purposes in light of section 11(a) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, as amended (‘the Act’) read with sections 23(f) and 23(g) of the A
Times have certainly changed. Ten years ago a tax query from a SARS assessor would find its way to the desk of the financial director or in-house tax advisor who would send it off to their auditors. The auditors would, in turn, give it to their tax department who would draft a reply to SARS and hope the matter went away. If not, an informal meeting between the financial director and tax advisor at the audit firm would usually settle the dispute ...
In Roshcon (Pty) Ltd v Anchor Auto Body Builders CC (“Roshcon”) the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”), in a unanimous judgment drafted by Wallis JA, has clarified the issues caused by its previous decision in SARS v NWK Limited (“NWK”). Roshcon was not a tax case; it concerned supplier and floorplan agreements relating to the sale of trucks, with a reservation of ownership to a finance house as security until the trucks were fully paid for by the purchaser ...
