TAX MAN GIVES GREEN LIGHT FOR NEW SET OF RULES

Is this "friend" of "foe"? I guess only time will tell. Hopefully it won't be a case of spending a heap of money in terms of fees (mentioned below) and time and effort to save a few pennies!

Regards
Nikki


The new Advance Tax Ruling System - intended to promote clarity, consistency and certainty in the interpretation and application of the tax laws - came into effect on Monday. The system allows the commissioner to issue two new types of rulings - binding private rulings and binding general rulings, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said in a statement. Under the system, taxpayers could formally request a ruling from the commissioner in connection with the interpretation and application of the tax laws to a specific proposed transaction, subject to certain limitations. Provided there was full disclosure of all material facts, the ruling would generally be binding on the commissioner when an assessment was made in connection with that transaction.

The commissioner would also publish all binding private rulings in an edited form to protect confidentiality to provide information and guidance to taxpayers generally, and to ensure all taxpayers operated on a level playing field. However, the binding effect only applied to the applicant who requested the ruling. The binding private rulings could not be cited as precedent by any other taxpayer. The commissioner would accept applications for binding private rulings from October 16, and all applications should be submitted electronically through the ATR Service Portal on the Sars eFiling site (www.sarsefiling.co.za). Applications were subject to both an application fee and a cost recovery fee. The application fee for SMMEs was R2 500, and for all other taxpayers, R10 000.The cost recovery fee would generally depend upon the complexity of the proposed transaction in question and the issues raised in the application. Sars said the Commissioner would continue issuing non-binding written opinions in response to taxpayer queries in connection with current or proposed transactions. These non-binding private opinions would remain free of charge, and could be requested at a taxpayer's branch office. Sars would conduct workshops and training sessions with practitioners and taxpayer organisations over the next two weeks to help familiarise people with the new system. - Sapa