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M.Com. (Taxation) / The purpose of this study is to determine the desirability of the implementation of a system of self-assessment in South Africa. The current system has several shortcomings and self assessment might be an improvement. Several of the developed countries have already gone onto self-assessment systems. These countries include The United States of America, Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom. A self-assessment system The Margo Commission recommended a self-assessment system in their report on the tax structure of South Africa. They motivated this recommendation as follows: "Under a system of self assessment, taxpayers would perform functions which are at present being discharged by assessors. With that responsibility shifted from assessor to taxpayer, Inland Revenue could confine it self to a selective audit of cases which would be much more productive in respect of revenue and manpower." (Margo Report, 1986:para 28.37) A self-assessment system is in short a system where the taxpayer computes his/her tax liability, completes the relevant forms and sends the payment together with the forms to the Revenue Authorities. The Revenue Authorities apply scientifically developed selection methods to select taxpayers to be audited. The Office of the Commissioner will then be able to concentrate his limited resources on revenue producing sectors and those sectors where the possibility of tax evasion are perceived to be the biggest. In this way more tax can thus be collected. The Margo Commissions' report appeared in 1986. With the obvious advantages of a self assessment system one tends to wonder why this system has not been implemented yet. Reasons why South Africa docs not have a self-assessment system The Department of Inland Revenue gives the following two reasons for the delay: The material number of discretions contained in the Income Tax Act; and The current computer system will have to be upgraded to handle a self-assessment system. A system that will be able to handle self-assessment will cost approximately R 16 million. It is true that discretions are a problem in a self-assessment environment, because of the uncertainty they create when the taxpayer do not know how the Commissioner will apply the discretion. This problem need not be overwhelming, as all the other countries under self assessment have discretions in their income tax acts. Discretions can never be removed completely. Other have to be found to create certainty, for example practice notes and binding directives. Several discretions have already been removed from the Income Tax Actwith the 1991/1992 and 1992/1993 budgets. By managing the remaining discretions effectively, self-assessment can be a very real possibility. There are several other problems in the way of implementing a self-assessment system, which might prove more difficult to overcome than discretions. Some of these are: • The high illiteracy rate; • A material percentage of the populations are living below the bread line and every available cent is spent on reconstruction and development; • It is only human to expect that there will be a resistance against change • The high cost of compliance. Research in Australia has shown that the cost of compliance for the taxpayer did not decrease and it might even have. increased (pope and Fayle,1991:44)

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce (Specialising in Taxation) / Obesity and overweight caused by overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (‘SSBs’) are a problem in South Africa, as in most countries. It was for this reason that the Minister of Finance announced in the February 2016 Budget a decision to introduce a tax on SSBs with effect from 1 April 2017 to help reduce excessive sugar intake and tackle non-communicable diseases. Previously, South Africa had introduced similar legislation but abolished it in April 2002 after a nine-year period (BDO, 2012.) In order to determine the impact of the sugar tax in South Africa, the sugar tax was compared to similar taxes implemented in other tax jurisdictions, namely, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Denmark, and also to other similar taxes levied in South Africa. The question which the research addressed is whether a sugar tax could be used as a tool to decrease the rising rate of obesity in South Africa and therefore to improve the general health of South Africans (effective tax). The tax on SSBs may have its shortcomings but, depending upon the administrative and support structures put in place to deal with it, it will be an effective tax. In other words, the introduction of a sugar tax should reduce overweight and obesity. / GR2018

M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2017 / This study assesses the impact of a change in tax system in South Africa and the effects caused thereof on both the government and mining companies .This is done by comparing different tax models and analyzing the results to determine their suitability to be used in South Africa. A hypothetical case study is used to achieve the goals of the study by employing six different case scenarios under different threshold rates, tax rates and corporate income tax rates on a mining project. An NPV generated from a discounted cash flow under each scenario is used to evaluate the project success, the tax revenue generated shows how much government stands to make. The results show that the project NPV is highest when both the corporate income tax rate and the resource rent tax rate are reduced. The study also reveals reducing the tax rate has a greater effect on changing project NPV and potential government revenue than reducing the threshold rate and/or the corporate income tax rate. An assessment on the readiness of South Africa to changing tax systems shows that although the resource rent tax system can generate high revenues for government, the disadvantages of changing tax systems on the country as a whole currently outweigh the advantages / MT2017

M.Comm. / The objective with this study was to analyse the South African import tax structure and by doing so to highlight the shortcomings of the system. Taxation is the main source of revenue for all levels of government. Import taxation as an income and fiscal policy instrument is used by government to protect local industries against foreign competition, to stimulate local industrial development and to protect the balance of payments against an uncontrolled flight of foreign exchange ...

M.Com. (Economics) / The purpose of this study was to analyze the nature and extent of capital taxes as a component of the total tax structure and to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of this kind of tax in South Africa. The different capital taxes were discussed individually. Standard norms and criteria used to evaluate taxes have been identified. These criteria were applied in an analysis of the different capital taxes. Tables, figures and international comparisons were also employed. The definition of capital is problematic. Historically capital has been compared with a tree while income has been likened with the fruit of the tree. For purposes of this study capital is defined, for an individual, as the current value of the individual's expected future income. Capital as an asset is defined as all assets that are not intended for immediate use. Arguments in favour of capital tax centre around moral issues like equality. It may be argued in favour of capital tax that the implicit income of capital should be taxed in order to maintain economic neutrality of the tax system. Arguments against capital tax concentrate on the negative implications thereof on certain economic entities. Certain practical considerations are highlighted. It may be argued that capital tax is immoral since the abstention of consumption (saving) is taxed...

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a detailed analysis of, and commentary on, the tax implications of a credit agreement, based on current legislation, case law and practice as applied by the Commissioner. The South African Acts that are the subject of this dissertation are as follows: • The Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (as amended). • The Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (as amended). The principal South African taxes dealt with in this dissertation are as follows: • Normal tax. • Value-added tax. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (M.Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2014. / At the 2013 budget presentation, the South African government indicated its intention to introduce carbon tax starting 1 January, 2015 at the rate of R120 per ton of Co2 equivalent. Prior research confirmed that carbon taxes have the potential to increase price levels, make exports uncompetitive and reinforce income inequality. It was suspected that the proposed carbon tax in the face of other similar taxes in South Africa would result in similar outcome. Furthermore, the socio-economic circumstance of South Africa could make the tax unfair to taxpayers. The object of this research was to evaluate the fairness of the proposed carbon tax in South Africa using the tenets of tax fairness Proposed by Smith (1776). The research methodology adopted was content analysis and correspondence analysis to analyse survey responses. The results of the analysis confirmed that the proposed carbon tax would result in price increases, make exports uncompetitive and reinforce income inequality. It was concluded that the proposed carbon tax would be unfair to taxpayers if implemented as currently designed