The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2018
("TLAA"), which was promulgated on 17
January 2018, amended South African tax legislation by overhauling
two provisions relating to the reduction of debt, (the
"Debt Benefit Rules"), namely section 19
of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (the "ITA")
and paragraph 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the ITA (the
"Eighth Schedule"). This article will
examine the notable areas where the legislation per the TLAA
differs and the importance of the timing of the application of such
amendments.
Some amendments to the Debt Benefit Rules are effective
retrospectively, as from years of assessment commencing on or after
1 January 2018. These proposed amendments were first introduced in
the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2018 which was published
for comment on 16 July 2018. This caused a great deal of
uncertainty as the proposed amendments were only in draft and were
subject to possible change, which made it difficult for taxpayers
to manage their
