In plain terms, it is an investment vehicle that can save you a significant amount of tax.
What all tax breaks try to do is to influence behaviour. How, where and when you invest can and will be influenced by existing tax legislation. And in so doing, government is then in turn able to achieve some of its socio-economic objectives.
It's been a few months now since Progressive Web Apps (PWA's) have made their way into the web and mobile domains but are you fully aware of all the advantages and benefits they offer?
The web ecosystem has evolved quite a lot over the course of the past several years. The surge in mobile usage has totally changed our way of using the web. Mobile constraints, like limited space due to small screens, as well as a pointer much less precise than that on desktop (your finger), have pushed designers to create user interfaces that are far from what we were used to using in the early 2000's. Clearer, more refined, and most importantly more intuitive, these interfaces figured out how to make their way onto larger screens as well, making it essential today to provide perfect user experience, regardless of the device being used.
Increased attentiveness and speculation regarding the future of cryptocurrencies has prompted calls for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to provide direction as to how cryptocurrencies should be treated for tax purposes. However, there is an existing tax framework that can guide SARS and affected taxpayers on the tax implications of cryptocurrencies, making a separate Interpretation Note unnecessary for now.
While there were a number of changes announced in the recent budget speech, none were as significant as the increase in the standard rate of VAT from 14 to 15%. While largely anticipated the practical implications need to be reviewed in order to ensure compliance from a vendor perspective, and to gain a better understanding from a consumer perspective. Accordingly, this newsletter is dedicated to some of the more pertinent issues arising from the increase.
On 21 February 2018, then Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba announced that the Value-Added Tax (“VAT”) rate would increase from 14% to 15% with effect from 1 April 2018. As this is the first VAT rate increase since 1993, there are various implications that must be considered when transitioning between the two rates.
