In this tax bulletin:

•   If you’re a provisional taxpayer, mark this one in your diary…
•   SARS removes Vat rulings: what now?

If you’re a provisional taxpayer, mark this one in your diary…

The deadline for income tax returns is the last (working) day of the tax year, 26 February 2010. You only have 26 working days left to submit your returns!

Now, if you’re not clued up on all the new rules around provisional tax, don’t worry — just check out this month’s issue of Simplify Your Tax (also available online for subscribers). You’ll find an explanation of all the rules, and tips for avoiding trouble with SARS. We also show you how to safely calculate your provisional tax, so you can avoid tax penalties and interest.

SARS removes Vat rulings: what now?

Since the introduction of Vat in 1991, SARS Law and Policy Division (South Africa’s very own LAPD…) built up a decisions register eventually containing 452 rulings of general interest. Vat vendors referred to these rulings for information and guidance on Vat issues.

But now they’re gone! “Between August and December 2009, SARS withdrew all these rulings and vendors can no longer rely on them, unless the ruling relates to a matter in a tax period prior to the ruling being withdrawn,” explains Peter Franck (our Vat consultant).

So be careful if you’re referring to a Vat ruling that’s from 2009 — it won’t hold water, as far as SARS is concerned.

Until next week,

Fulvia Becatti
Managing Editor: Practical Tax Handbook and Practical Vat Handbook