The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently handed down the
judgement (Case No: 503/11) in the case between the Commissioner
for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and De Beers
Consolidated Mines Limited (DBCM).
The judgement related to two separate VAT disputes, the first
regarding whether services rendered by independent financial
advisers in London constituted "imported services" and
the second whether VAT charged by certain local service providers
qualified as input tax deductions.
SARS was successful in respect of both disputes.
Background
Commencing in 2000, DBCM was party to a series of complex
transactions, the ultimate result of which was that DBCM would be
acquired by a new holding company. The scheme involved the
implementation of a scheme of arrangement pursuant to section 311
of the Companies Act, No 61 of 1973 in terms of which DBCM bought
back linked units (the shares in DBCM were linked to depository
receipts issued by De Beers Centenary
