Subscribe & Follow
Trending
#AfricaMonth
Advertise your job vacancies
Jobs
- Brand and Marketing Manager Johannesburg
- Global Senior Talent Delivery Researcher Cape town
- CRM and Lifecycle Manager Cape Town
- Paid Social Campaign Manager (Junior–Mid Level) Cape Town
- Digital Content Creator Cape Town
- Sales Representative - Digital Print Johannesburg
- Junior Account Executive Cape Town
- Lecturer: Language Conversational Sign Language Cape Town
- Digital Marketing and Content Creator Specialist Johannesburg
- Content Marketing Manager Cape Town
SA wants to close all tax loopholes
SA is determined to be at the forefront of global efforts to ensure transparency in tax matters and to enhance revenue collection by closing loopholes which corporates and individuals are able to exploit‚ Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said at a conference on relations between the Group of 20 and Africa.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan wants SA to close anytax loopholes such as base erosion or profit shifting. Image: GCIS
He said SA and Africa as a whole were negatively affected by what is called base erosion and profit shifting - the process of transferring profits to a low-tax regime in order to pay less tax.
"We already have according to SARS (South African Revenue Service) several cases of base erosion and profit shifting, which impact on billions of rands of tax which is payable to SA authorities‚" he said.
Gordhan quoted the best-known example of the practice‚ from the UK. "Starbucks paid tax authorities a mere £8.5m on coffee sales of nearly £3bn in a case that evoked lots of public response and emotion‚" Gordhan said.
Protecting Africa's interest
SA is currently the only African country in the G20 - a group of the world's leading economies - but both the African Development Bank and the New Partnership for Africa's Development have seats in the body. Between them they act to promote and protect African interests in the global debate about tax.
"Think of how many African governments could do with this extra tax revenue. Africa could be fundamentally better with more schools‚ more infrastructure and more economic activity‚" Gordhan‚ himself a former SARS Commissioner‚ said.
"Without the tax that should be coming from corporates‚ governments are forced to raise tax rates on individuals or cut spending‚" he said.
As part of steps to harmonise the rules in the international economy‚ and level the global playing field in the process‚ the G20 have agreed to establish a means to exchange tax information among themselves by 2015. This will mean tax authorities have the same information to work with.
"We endorse the aspiration of automatic exchange becoming a global standard. SA has gone further and we will be early implementers of the standard with Australia‚ France‚ Germany‚ Italy‚ Mexico‚ Spain and the UK‚" Gordhan said.
SA currently chairs the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information.
Source: I-Net Bridge
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.zaRelated
