Dear Subscriber,

Spring has arrived in a blast of hot summer like days with temperatures reaching into the thirty´s, I personally love summer so this weather is just fantastic. This must be a sign of change, new life, new hope, new opportunities and the signal for rebirth.

In an article written by Jacqui Wilmot, she writes about how SARS is more sophisticated these days, with their R140m innovation programme which includes upgrading technology and employing an army of “profilers”. They will also use information provided by banks, insurers and employers to verify tax returns to put the spotlight on individuals of high net worth. Read the full article to find out more about the methods used by SARS.

In a press statement on the SARS website, all those that have applied for the Small Business Tax Amnesty your deadline for the submission of their 2006 tax return and financial statements was 31 August 2007. These documents are required for the completion of the amnesty applications. The Star online newspaper reported that Sars spokesperson Yolisa Pikie said: “After the deadline, Sars will commence with enforcement actions against taxpayers who have either not applied for amnesty or submitted an incomplete application.”

Tax Issues
The Secondary Tax on Companies, or more commonly known as STC, will be abolished in October and will be replaced by a withholding tax. Ernie Lai King, director at Deneys Reitz discussed this matter on Tax Issues last week. Click here for the full interview.

This week tax attorney Kerry Watkin discussed certain discretionary powers of the Commissioner of SARS on Tax Issues, broadcast on Summit TV (DSTV channel 55) at 20h40 & 22h40 on Wednesday evenings and at 7h30 on Thursday mornings.

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Till next week.
Janine Connor
Head of TAXtalk

William H. McAfee Jr.

Financial planners have been devoting more attention over the last few years to the business of advising owners of small-to-medium-size businesses. Their efforts to serve this group typically focus on benefits-planning and estate planning but often fail to address a much more important topic — how a closely-held business functions within its owner´s overall financial plan.

TAXtalk

SARS´s filing season 2007 is upon us, with the new simplified tax return, as announced by finance minister, Trevor Manuel earlier this year. Steven Jones of Moneyweb wrote this week that there are a few glaring omissions on the form that could cause some consternation, once SARS starts issuing assessments based on the new forms. He highlighted two of those:

eTaxjobs is a global job portal exclusively for tax professionals, and an online resource for employers and recruitment firms to advertise their vacancies. eTaxjobs operate in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and around the World.

Available tax jobs for this week are:

• VAT Advisor, Vodafone, Newbury, UK
• Transfer Pricing Senior Manager, FS, London, UK
• Tax Manager, Group & Front Office Advisory, London, UK
• US (Expatriate) Tax Professional, Saudi Arabia
• Senior Tax Manager, Multinational, Switzerland

Ernie Lai King, director at Deneys Reitz - Summit TV

The Secondary Tax on Companies, or more commonly known as STC, will be abolished in October and will be replaced by a withholding tax on dividends. This issue was discussed by Ernie Lai King, director at Deneys Reitz.

Sanchia Temkin - Business Day

It would be a pity if the recent Fidentia corporate scandal were to be regarded as proof of the “abuse of trusts”” by the tax authorities and if it were to lead to ill-considered knee-jerk legisla-tion, says Prof Bob Williams, a trust and tax expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Matt Ash & Shane Voigt - Deneys Reitz

Insurers may wonder at the relevance of the topic of arbitration, specifically as to how this might impact on underwriters` business and assessment of risk. There are many commercial reasons why insurers may be interested in the arbitral process, in particular if one has specific regard of the overall tension of arbitration.

TAXtalk invites you to write an article in which you share your views and expertise on tax. Your article can be published in the newsletter for 7000 readers to view, on our website for over 100 000 viewers to see and in the TAXtalk magazine(with your photo) for more than 16 000 readers to read. Make an impression, submit your article NOW.

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