Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-132). / South Africa levies two taxes on an individual in the event of death; namely estate duty and capital gains tax. Much debate exists on whether it is fair for South Africans to pay a "double tax" on the same assets on death. There is also a possibility that the deceased becomes liable for a third tax to foreign tax authorities when owning foreign property. This dissertation specifically examines the international tax issues that may arise on death for a South African with either Greek or Portuguese heritage. There are currently approximately 45,000 Greek passport holding South African residents and approximately 300,000 Portuguese passport holding South Africans. The question asked by many is: "are South Africans who have Greek or Portuguese heritage subject to taxes on death in excess of the South African "double tax" (capital gains tax and Estate Duty) as a result of any foreign taxes payable?" If this is the case, are there adequate relief measures available that can be used to address this inequity? The question is very topical at the moment on account of the current amendments in Greece with respect to the tax residency definition and the increased inheritance tax rates. It is also beneficial to include Portugal in the study as it is known to have less international double taxation issues. In effect if this is found to be true in this dissertation then Portugal can be used as a comparative benchmark, possible solutions can be derived from their policies and if the same problem arises between both South Africa and Greece and South Africa and Portugal it may be indicative of a much larger global tax issue that needs resolving.

Section 29A of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 contains a special set of rules for the taxation of life insurers. These rules were originally enacted in 1993 and are commonly referred to as the four funds approach. The rules have remained largely unchanged since their original enactment despite ongoing changes in the life insurance industry in particular with regards to new product offerings.

Namibia is a country rich in natural resources and heavily dependent on foreign investment to effectively make use of those resources. It has a national policy of encouraging investment from other countries and has set up incentives for that purpose. When there is a great deal of involvement of foreign companies in a country, international tax issues of judicial double taxation are discouraging to foreign investors. In an effort to address this risk, Namibia has entered into various double tax agreements with countries to ensure equitable taxing rights and encourage foreign direct investment. Double tax agreements are usually based on model tax agreements published by large international organisations, the most popular being the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) and United Nations (“UN”). The African Tax Administration Forum (“ATAF”) has also recently formulated such a model for African countries. As Namibia has a source based taxation system, giving up any taxing rights are of great concern and it must consider if these double tax agreements is in its best interest. Subsequently, Namibia has begun the process of renegotiating its tax treaties with other countries in hope of sacrificing fewer source taxing rights. This dissertation analyses Namibia’s current double tax agreements to determine whether the permanent establishment article offers sufficient protection for Namibia’s source taxing rights with reference to Namibia’s largest and most important industries of fishing and mining. The permanent establishment article is of particular importance as it usually provides an unrestricted taxing right to the income in the source country in which the permanent establishment is based. This study considers the permanent establishment article as it applies to the fishing and mining industries in Namibia. This includes a discussion of the mining and fishing industries in Namibia and a brief look at the applicable taxation regime. It also compares the permanent establishment article found in the OECD, UN and ATAF models to discuss which represents the most appropriate for Namibia to use as the basis for its renegotiations. The agreements analysed do show some areas for concern to Namibia namely: • The treaty with the United Kingdom is very out dated and may not give Namibia full territorial rights. • Many of the treaties with developed countries have permanent establishment article that are based more on the OECD model than the UN model which is specifically designed to give developing countries more taxing rights. • The permanent establishment article in the ATAF model gives the most taxing rights to the host/source country and has specific provisions negating the risk of abuse by foreign companies. However, there is a concern that such provisions may have too wide a scope and discourage foreign investment. • Most of the provisions of potential benefit to Namibia have been inserted in Article 5(2) and are arguably ineffective or less effective protections. • Namibia’s current DTAs contain no provisions directly related to fishing vessels which is of concern as fishing vessels are at risk of not being classified as permanent establishments. There are, however, arguments to be made for a fishing vessel as a mobile place of business forming a permanent establishment without such special provision. • A specific deeming provision regarding the permanent establishment in the exploration phase of the mining process would be advisable if Namibia wished to create one in the mining industry as soon as possible.

The BEPS Action 6 Report identified "tax treaty abuse", and in particular "treaty shopping", as one of the most important sources of BEPS. As such, the objective and purpose of the Action 6 Report is intended to address "the granting of tax treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances" to prevent the perceived "tax treaty abuse". This has been a primary focus for the BEPS project. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of selected aspects of the BEPS proposals against this purpose and objectives of the OECD BEPS project. To evaluate the effectiveness of these proposals, this paper examines the development of basic principles to understand what is meant by the term "tax treaty abuse". An overview of these developments proposes to provide clarity and ensure that the broader context is conceptualised for the purposes for this paper.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation attempts to critically analyse the tax on capital gains as an addition to South Africa's fiscal framework. The method of the analysis involves the collation of international research on the effects of capital gains tax on the economies, financial markets, labour markets and revenue authorities of various countries. The focus is on the economic and fiscal areas directly relating to the long-term economic and fiscal policy goals of the South African government. These goals, as well as the justification given by the South African Department of Finance and the South African Revenue Service for the introduction of the capital gains tax are presented in the literature review section of this study. Research of international tax practices indicates that the taxing of capital gains has a depressive effect on capital formation, labour productivity, foreign and domestic direct investment, business creation, entrepreneurship and taxpayer equity. In addition, the introduction of such a tax has no proven growth effects on governmental revenue, and does not significantly dissuade tax avoidance schemes using arbitrage measures. By applying the globally observed effects of the capital gains tax to the long-term policy goals mentioned above, I conclude that the capital gains tax does not assist in the achievement of the economic and fiscal policy goals of the South African government, neither in the short- nor the long-term. Conversely, the capital gains tax acts as a countermeasure to the achievement of the said goals.

The digital economy is rapidly evolving and changing the way businesses operate. This is as a result of the increased use and reliance of technologies in business processes. As more companies adopt technology in their operations and as technology is continually developing, it becomes cheaper to implement technology in business processes over time. Traditional tax principles, domestic and international are reliant on some level of physical activity being performed in a country before the taxing right is granted. In the past, businesses required a level of physical presence in each country they operated in, in order to generate a significant level of economic activity. However, through the use of technology, businesses are now able to centralise their core business functions by operating on a global or regional level, and thereby foregoing the need to establish subsidiaries or branches in the countries they operate in. As a result of this, businesses are able to separate the location of the activities that generate economic value from the physical location of the customer. This creates tax challenges as businesses are able to manipulate their operations such that their 'core business activities' are performed in low tax jurisdictions. Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) has been on the agenda for a number of years as countries have become increasingly concerned about profits being shifted to other jurisdictions. At the request of the G20 leaders in 2013, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepared a 15 point action plan in order to address such concerns. The final version of the report was released in September 2015.Action Plan 1 of the report deals specifically with the tax challenges raised by the digital economy. The report states that the recommendations in the report in its entirety will address BEPS risks, but specifically that Action Plan 7 will serve to mitigate any risks introduced by the digital economy.

The main objective of this study was to identify the potential difficulties that the verification of cryptocurrencies presents to SARS and determining whether these problems will also be encountered by tax authorities in Brazil, Russia, India and China (members of the BRICS group of countries). The study examined how the BRICS’ countries were addressing cryptocurrency data challenges and determining whether South Africa could learn from the solutions implemented by these countries. The information gathering powers of SARS were also examined in order to determine whether those powers are on par with those of the BRICS’ countries. The findings suggest that it is vital that tax authorities link the taxpayer’s real identity to the taxpayer’s digital identity in order to trace the taxpayer’s tax profile and verify compliance with tax legislation. The findings also suggest that certain BRICS countries did not experience significant verification difficulties. China has, however, banned the use of cryptocurrencies. Russia is in the process of passing tax legislation pertaining to cryptocurrencies and therefore, the Russian tax authorities have not yet undertaken to verify cryptocurrency transactions. India has addressed the verification challenges presented by cryptocurrencies by introducing legislation that compels clients of cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the exchange before transacting. Brazil is in the process of passing legislation which will require cryptocurrency exchanges to supply the Brazilian tax authorities with taxpayers’ identities, transaction amounts and transaction history on a monthly basis. Private altcoins, face-to-face transactions, cryptocurrency mixers and online peer-to-peer markets (which require no registration) present the largest verification challenges due to the difficulty in tracking these transactions. It was also found that the information gathering powers of SARS are on par with those of the BRICS’ countries and therefore, SARS is also able to request information from cryptocurrency exchanges as a means of collecting data for verification purposes. The study concluded with recommendations for SARS to consider in addressing the verification challenges posed by cryptocurrency transactions.

Includes bibliographical references / The primary concern of this dissertation is the reduction of cross-border tax obstacles by improving the VAT rules governing cross border supplies of services and intangibles. These cross-border transactions are on the increase for many countries around the world. Cross-border transactions come with many challenges which impact current VAT rules and systems negatively and expose serious shortcomings in the application thereof. The dissertation examines the nature of the current cross-border VAT rules in South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) and analyses the effectiveness and adequacy thereof. As a result of globalization rapid growth in international trade, specifically by electronic means, is inevitable. Today businesses are certainly becoming more focused internationally and are able to conduct their business activities across borders without constraints. Many VAT rules were designed only taking into account national economic activities and not international activities. The supply of services and intangibles across borders may be made without being reported, recorded and taxed. Many cross-border trading activities may potentially fall outside of the tax net and result in the non-collection of VAT revenues. Many countries have introduced a place of supply rule to mitigate the challenges and uncertainties arising from cross-border transactions. South Africa's value-added tax system does not include a place of supply rule. South Africa's Revenue authorities are currently faced with many challenges and uncertainties regarding the tax consequences of cross border transactions. The effectiveness of SA's existing VAT rules governing exports and imports are increasingly challenged by the growth in online web-based commerce. The difficulty in establishing the most effective rules to ensure compliance with VAT obligations on web-based transactions is growing. There is no standard set of VAT rules for cross-border transactions that can readily be applied internationally to every circumstance to determine the place of supply. The aim of this research is to determine whether the introduction of a place of supply rule is an effective solution to resolve the challenges and uncertainties resulting from cross border electronic transactions and ultimately increase VAT revenue. The dissertation specifically includes information on the practical application of the place of supply rule and the challenges facing the UK. A comparison between the VAT rules applied in South Africa for imports versus the UK place of supply rules is made and the significant differences are highlighted. In conclusion it is proposed that the introduction of a place of supply rule in South Africa would be beneficial and would contribute to the development an d improvement of South Africa's VAT system.

Includes bibliographical references. / The debate around the deductibility of transferred contingent liabilities, when a business is sold as a going concern has been raging for many years with no definitive guidance provided in legislation and limited court decisions on the issue, with the exception of the recent Ackermans Ltd v CSARS ("Acermans case") judgment and BCR 029 issued by SARS.

Internationally, as well as in South Africa, legal reform aimed at increasing taxpayer information transparency has gained momentum over the past few years, especially in the light of the G20 led Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ('BEPS') Project. Ensuring that the fundamental rights of the taxpayer, guaranteed by the Constitution1, remain protected amidst the hurried implementation of these reforms is of paramount importance and cannot be overlooked or deferred. To a great extent, the question as to whether the current rules, regulations, and practices surrounding exchange of taxpayer information in South Africa would pass constitutional muster has, as yet, gone unasked and unanswered in academic literature. This minor dissertation seeks to identify and analyse the constitutional questions raised by these existing rules and practices, with special reference to the constitutional rights of taxpayers in South Africa. Specifically, the current framework for both the automatic exchange of information and exchange upon request is considered in the context of two constitutional rights, namely the right to privacy and the right to just administrative action, with due recognition of the general limitation of rights provided for in the Constitution. Importantly, this paper does not dispute the need for exchange of taxpayer information in principle, nor the desirability of effective tax administration. It is furthermore appreciated and acknowledged that a balance must be struck between the often competing interests of the South African Revenue Service ('SARS') as an administrator seeking to discharge its mandate in the most efficient manner possible, and the fundamental rights of the taxpayer.