Moonstone

1 week ago | moonstone.co.za | Amanda Visser

The constitutionality of the delegation of law-making power to the Minister of Finance to introduce taxes and raise or reduce tax rates by way of an announcement in the annual Budget Review remains untested. The value-added tax fiasco in Parliament was settled via an agreement between the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters and the minister before the matter could be tackled in court.

3 weeks ago | moonstone.co.za | Amanda Visser

Value-added tax keeps making the news. If it’s not a rate hike that gets people irate, it’s the disallowance of their legitimate input tax claims that forces them into litigation with the South African Revenue Service. A recent case before the Western Cape Tax Court shows that it helps if taxpayers stand up for their rights. The court ordered SARS to set aside additional VAT assessments of close to R158 million.

1 month ago | moonstone.co.za | Amanda Visser

National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service are ready for a value-added tax increase of half-a-percentage point in May and another half-a-percentage point in April next year. Treasury held a workshop on Friday where it appears that the rate and tax increases announced in the second round of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech will go ahead.

1 month ago | moonstone.co.za

1 month ago | moonstone.co.za | Amanda Visser

The contentious nature of the phrase “bona fide inadvertent error” received some attention in the 2025 Budget Review. The courts have recently interpreted the phrase somewhat differently to what the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has in mind. The bona fide inadvertent error provision was inserted into the Tax Administration Act (TAA) to provide taxpayers with an exclusion from an understatement penalty (USP) when they make an error without the deliberate intention to defraud the fiscus.