Binding Private Ruling 424

SARS objection to estimated assessments dismissed: Western Cape High Court confirms taxpayers must submit substantiating documents under Rule 7(2)(b)(iii), even where SARS bears the onus of proving an estimated assessment’s reasonableness.

This Tax Court VAT Section 21 Judgment examines the VAT treatment of financial services, focusing on whether certain banking activities qualify as exempt supplies.

The case highlights the interpretation of “financial services” under VAT legislation and clarifies the boundaries between taxable and exempt transactions, offering key insights into compliance, input tax claims, and structuring within the banking sector.

A comprehensive analysis of Absa and Another v CSARS, examining SARS’s application of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to complex preference share funding structures.

This judgment underscores the procedural limits in tax litigation, clarifying that taxpayers may not introduce entirely new grounds of appeal that effectively constitute new objections to previously undisputed aspects of an assessment. It reinforces the principles of finality, fairness, and procedural integrity in the objection and appeal process under the Tax Administration Act.

In this practical training session, we unpack Tax Court judgment IT 24852 (Taxpayer EPP v SARS), where a taxpayer sought to deduct R38.8 million after customs and excise refund claims became time-barred. Explore the critical distinction between expenditure and loss under section 11(a), the timing of deductions, the impact of prescribed refund claims, understatement penalties, interest, and potential post-judgment remedies through reduced assessments and prescription exceptions under the Tax Administration Act

Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses reconsideration in Lutzkie v SARS, holding that no exceptional circumstances justified revisiting refusal of leave to appeal on disputed taxable income and penalties.