AngloGold Ashanti to pay R4bn to exit SA
AngloGold Ashanti will before tomorrow (Tuesday) pay SARS a total of R4.5bn in taxes as part of the transaction to move its corporate domicile to the UK and primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange.
This will see it finally exit SA, reports Moneyweb.
It has a dividend-withholding tax bill due of R4.18bn and will pay a securities transfer tax of R351m.
This equates to a total of $240m but will likely be lower due to the exchange rate.
This will be a welcome boost for SARS, which is under immense pressure to meet the collection forecasts announced in the budget due to lower growth, depressed commodity prices, and the impact of load shedding on corporate profits.
Contrasting this bill with its annual tax bill of $674m suggests this is an enormous amount to pay to extricate itself from SA, albeit this is a one-off amount.
In 2002, AngloGold Ashanti paid $231m in tax and $152m in royalties. Employee taxes totalled $182m.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
