Maladministration at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) resulted in the loss of public trust and negative implications on voluntary tax compliance and may encourage taxpayers to partake in aggressive tax planning schemes. This maladministration also resulted in the degeneration of SARS systems whilst technology advanced internationally. Digitalisation at SARS is crucial to address aggressive tax planning that has become more advanced as a result of the mobility of the digital economy. This study used a qualitative research methodology based on exploratory research which involved literature reviews of textbooks and articles in order to provide recommendations of how digitalisation can be adopted by SARS with a specific focus on ensuring the effectiveness of the South African Reportable Arrangements legislation. The operation of the South African Reportable Arrangements legislation was explained in order to benchmark it against the design features and best practices recommended by the OECD in Action 12 of the BEPS project and to highlight how digitalisation can enhance these provisions. Recommendations made considered the current state of digitalisation at SARS, how other countries’ tax administrations have become more digitalised and practical concerns to be borne in mind when deciding the appropriate technology. The study found that there are a handful of recommendations remaining on how South Africa could improve reportable arrangement legislation without unnecessarily increasing the compliance burden. Digitalisation techniques that could be considered are advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and Application Programme Interfaces. The study proposed, amongst others, that these could be adopted by SARS to be able to gather information from various sources in real time to identify further characteristics of aggressive tax planning, perform completeness checks on reported transactions and re-deploy resources to investigate pre-identified possible reportable transactions. / Mini Dissertation (MPhil (International Taxation))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / pt2021 / Taxation / MPhil (International Taxation) / Unrestricted

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (specialising in Taxation) / Tax avoidance is the legal utilisation of the tax regime to one's own advantage, to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. Tax evasion entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities in order to reduce their tax liability, and includes, in particular, dishonest tax reporting (such as declaring less income, profits or gains than actually earned; or overstating the deductions). The revised general anti-avoidance measures were introduced in the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 ('the Act') on 2 November 2006 in the form of section 80A to 80L, in order to replace the complicated and confusing as well as ineffective anti-avoidance measures contained in section 103(1). / AC 2018

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera remissutfallet gällande inhemska arrangemang i SOU 2018:91 (Rapporteringspliktiga arrangemang – ett nytt regelverk på skatteområdet). Med utgångspunkt i de inhemska arrangemangen, kommer begreppen rådgivare, rapporteringspliktiga arrangemang och den i utredningen presenterade rapporteringsavgiften beskrivas och analyseras utifrån proportionalitets- och legalitetsprincipen, dvs. balans mellan mål och medel samt krav på lagstöd och förutsebarhet. Uppsatsen bygger på synpunkter från följande remissinstanser, Föreningen auktoriserade revisorer, Näringslivets skattedelegation, Skatteverket, SRF konsulterna, Sveriges advokatsamfund. Frågan om inhemska arrangemang har ännu inte lett till någon lagstiftning. Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på en rättsdogmatisk- och en rättsanalytisk metod. Slutsats: Vår slutsats är att de i utredningen föreslagna rapporteringspliktiga arrangemang, begreppen rådgivare och rapporteringsavgift inte är helt förenliga med proportionalitets- och legalitetsprincipen. / Purpose: The purpose of the work is to analyze the outcome of the investigation, SOU 2018: 91 (Rapporteringspliktiga arrangemang – ett nytt regelverk på skatteområdet) regarding domestic arrangements. Based on the domestic arrangements, the concepts of advisers, reportable arrangements and the reporting charge presented in the investigation will be described and analyzed based on the principles of proportionality and legality. The work is based on views from the following consultation bodies, the Association of Authorized Public Accountants, the Business Tax Delegation, the Swedish Tax Agency, the SRF consultants, the Swedish Bar Association. The issue of domestic arrangements has not yet led to any legislation. Method: The work is based on a legal dogmatic- and a legal analytical method. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that the reportable arrangements, the concepts of advisers and reporting charge, are contrary to the principles of proportionality and legality.