Tax Tuesday: Medical aid tax deductions

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In this blog, we dig a little deeper into the tax realm of medical aids and expenses. As a taxpayer, you’re essentially entitled to two medical tax credits: 1. A credit on contributions made to your medical aid, and 2. A credit on additional medical expenses you paid that weren’t covered by your medical aid. ...

Tax Tuesday: Tax and retirement

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In this blog we’ll look at what it means to be a taxpayer once retired. Before we start, it's important to keep in mind that a retirement annuity (RA), pension or provident fund may usually only be accessed at a certain age. If you’re planning an early retirement, it would be advisable to have funds ...

Tax Tuesday: The most tax efficient entities

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Within the context of tax, an individual, a company or a trust can own property and earn income. This income could be trading profits, capital gains, dividends, etc. Holding assets in one’s own name is, obviously, the simplest and most cost-effective of these three entity types. That being said, the tax benefits linked to a ...

Tax Tuesday: Property and tax

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Whether you’re looking to buy a property to make it your home or to let, it’s important to understand the relevant tax rules as it can impact your investment returns. In this month’s blog, we’re taking a closer look at those rules to empower the property moguls amongst us. For the purpose of this blog, ...

Tax Tuesday: Foreign dividends

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Last month’s blog touched on how dividends tax is applied when a local company declares dividends. In this month’s blog, we’ll look at the tax implications when a foreign company declares dividends. Dividends declared by foreign companies are only subject to dividends tax in South Africa if the foreign company is also listed on the ...

Tax Tuesday: The lowdown on dividends tax

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Just because you don’t pay income tax on dividends, doesn’t mean they are tax-free. South African dividends carry dividends tax. Dividends tax is a withholding tax. This means the company declaring the dividend never pays the taxable portion to shareholders - it’s paid directly to SARS on the investor’s behalf. Dividends tax is levied at ...

Tax Tuesday: Capital Gains 101

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To best explain how capital gains tax (CGT) is calculated, we’ll detail each part of a single transaction. When calculating CGT, ‘base cost’ and ‘proceeds’ are important. Base cost refers to the amount you paid for the shares. Proceeds is the amount you receive for selling your shares. In our example, you bought 250 shares ...

Tax Tuesday: Tips for a stress-free tax year

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With the new tax year kicking off on 1 March 2018, we've created a list of important things to keep in mind when planning your tax returns. Watch the budget speech The first item on your to-do list should be ticked off before the tax year even starts. Tune in to the annual national budget ...