Legal and Policy - 16 November 2023

SARS:

15 November 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962, and Securities Transfer Tax Act, 2007

• Binding Private Ruling 397 – Income tax and securities transfer tax consequences resulting from an amalgamation transaction
• 14 November 2023 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods
• 14 November 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964

• Draft Amendments to Rules – DA 177 Environmental Levy Account for Carbon Dioxide Emission Levy

Due date for comments: 27 November 2023

• 14 November 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Binding Private Ruling 396 – Settlement of shareholder’s loans
• 14 November 2023 – FP24/2023: Appointment of a Panel of Suppliers to Supply SARS Customs Unit with Detector Dog Equipment, Marine Equipment and Other Consumables

The briefing presentation is now available.

• 13 November 2023 – As part of the Customs Modernisation Programme, Customs has implemented the South African Traveller Management System (SATMS) only at airports as the first phase of the project. The second phase included the implementation of the SATMS at sea and land ports, which has been finalised. The SATMS guide has been updated to include the application of the SATMS at sea and land ports.

SC-PA-01-12 – South African Traveller Management System – External Guide

• 10 November 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962, and Securities Transfer Tax Act, 2007

Binding Private Ruling 395 – Termination of a venture capital company

• 10 November 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Binding Class Ruling 087 – Consequences for shareholders upon termination of a venture capital company

• 10 November 2023 – Achieving our Vision 2024 of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms & technology infrastructure. To provide clarity & certainty, make it easy for taxpayers & traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets have to demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms & technology infrastructure are available, robust & secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements, and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform upgrades are scheduled for Friday evening, 10 November 2023 from 18:00 to 22:00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling Platform.

• 10 November 2023 – Tax Administration Act, 2011: Public Notice 4051 in Government Gazette 49646 of 10 November 2023, published in terms of section 26, amending Notice 3631 published in Government Gazette 48867 of 30 June 2023, in so far as it relates to the submission date for certain trusts as prescribed in terms of paragraph 4.2 of the aforesaid notice.
• 10 November 2023 – To simplify the completion of the Income Tax Return for Companies (ITR14), the external guide pertaining to the information required when completing the ITR14 has been updated to provide additional clarity.

Additional clarification provided in the external guide is in relation to the SARS Interest (s7E) deduction and the Share Register section. Information required when completing the SARS Interest (s7E) has been expounded upon. Additionally, the shortcomings pertaining to the Share Register and the interim solution have been communicated.

Furthermore, to address anticipated queries, frequently asked questions have been published on the Corporate Income Tax and Completing an ITR14 webpages.

IT-GEN-04-G01 – How to complete the Income Tax Return for Companies (ITR14) – External Guide

• 10 November 2023 – To keep pace with the rapid development and growth of the crypto-asset market and to ensure that recent gains in global tax transparency will not be gradually eroded, we welcome the new international standard on automatic exchange of information between tax authorities developed by the OECD – the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). The widespread, consistent and timely implementation of the CARF will further improve our ability to ensure tax compliance and clamp down on tax evasion, which reduces public revenues and increases the burden on those who pay their taxes.

See the full media statement here.

• 9 November 2023 – RFP22/2023: Appointment of a panel of service providers for the supply, maintenance and support of non-intrusive inspection scanning and detection solutions
• 9 November 2023 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Customs Clearance Declaration (CCD) have been updated to include the details of the new approved container depot in Durban, AO – EXXELO South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
• SC-CF-19-A02 – Facility Code List – External Annexure

OECD:

• Fiji joins international community’s fight against tax evasion as the 169th member of the Global Forum - 16 November 2023
• Kuwait joins the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and participates in the agreement to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy - 15 November 2023
• REPLAY] OECD Tax Certainty Day 2023 - 14 November 2023
• OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann welcomes pledge by 48 countries to implement global tax transparency standard for crypto-assets by 2027 - 10 November 2023
• The Philippines joins the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and participates in the agreement to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy - 10 November 2023

ATAF:

• Forum on Tax Administration plenary 2023 statement of outcomes – 10 November 2023