2003 in Summary

By Professor Peter Surtees, Special Tax Consultant

In a year dominated by the announcement of an exchange control and tax amnesty, the tax authorities continued with major revisions of and additions to the Income Tax Act. Several important decisions emerged from the courts, including one that succeeded in putting a brake on one of the more excessively draconian practices of SARS.

South Africa has had exchange control regulations in place for many years and, as is inevitable in such circumstances, huge amounts of grey money have been spirited offshore during that time. Finally the authorities decided to follow the example of several countries around the world and offer an amnesty. This consists of three parts, each relating to a different contravention: the exchange control amnesty in respect of unauthorised funds held offshore at 28 February 2003; the foreign tax amnesty in respect of income that accrued on such funds; and finally the domestic tax amnesty in respect of income