Legal Articles and Guides

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane maintains she does have the power to obtain former President Jacob Zuma's tax information from SARS whose refusal to provide it, she says, could result in ‘criminal sanctions', notes News24.

The public is entitled to know whether Jacob Zuma’s tax affairs were in order during the time that he served as President, according to papers lodged in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), notes a Business Day report.

SARS has fired its head of legal, Refiloe Mokoena, after a disciplinary hearing found her guilty of serious misconduct. BusinessLIVE says Mokoena was allegedly involved in granting the controversial Gupta family a reported R420m VAT refund.

The SCA judgment in Benhaus Mining (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for SARS in favour of the taxpayer has highlighted the need for amendments to the Income Tax Act.

SA’s multinational tobacco dealer, Martin Fraser Wingate-Pearse, has been ordered to pay Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan a huge sum for legal costs for alleging that he was part of a ‘rogue unit’ while SARS Commissioner.

The recent dismissal of an urgent application by Mark Lifman and his associates to hold on to their assets clearly demonstrates the perils of being passive in dealing with SARS, says Business Day journalist Amanda Visser.

Controversial Cape Town businessman Mark Lifman has turned to the SCA after losing his latest bid to stop SARS from seizing his assets in order to recover outstanding taxes amounting to R388m.

The Western Cape High Court has ended a five-year cat-and-mouse chase between Cape Town businessman Mark Lifman and the taxman over more than R352m. A TimesLIVE report notes SARS has been trying to recover the money from Lifman and his 35 companies and trusts since 2014.

SARS has offered clarity for companies that offer transport services to their employees. While the Income Tax Act stipulates that any service paid for by an employer for the private or domestic use of an employee is deemed a taxable benefit, SARS, recognising the necessity of companies’ providing transport for their employees, made provision for this to attract ‘no value’ for tax.

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SARS has brought a vexatious litigant application in the Western Cape High Court with the intention of silencing Cape Town businessman Gary van der Merwe, and – says Business Report – put an end to his attempts to expose what he claims to be fraud and corruption by the revenue service, their lawyers and others linked to them.

Two of the biggest casinos in the Western Cape want to be exempt from paying tax on more than R127m of free play they give their most loyal patrons, arguing it should not be calculated as revenue.

SARS is seeking R388m in taxes owed by businessman Mark Lifman and has asked the High Court to put all his business entities under liquidation in an attempt to recoup the money.

SARS is pursuing the local operation of global cigarette giant British American Tobacco (BAT), claiming R143m for alleged tax fraud and evading excise duties, according to Business Times. The alleged contraventions, which BAT-SA denies, saw the company allegedly receiving undue rebates from SARS.

Although former KPMG auditor Jacques Wessels has become the first individual to face any real sanction related to the Estina dairy farm saga, after the NPA provisionally withdrew charges against Gupta family members and business associates in November last year – he has been barred from acting as an auditor – criminal charges may yet flow from the incident.