A critical evaluation and comparative study on section 10(1)(o)(ii) foreign employment exemption

dc.article.end-page84
dc.article.start-page1
dc.contributor.authorMargolius, Caryn
dc.contributor.supervisorKolitz, Maeve
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-10T07:25:45Z
dc.date.available2024-06-10T07:25:45Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.descriptionresearch report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce specialising in the field of Taxation
dc.description.abstractIn 2001, South Africa changed to a residence-based system of taxation to align with international best practice and to limit the opportunities for tax arbitrage (Manuel, 2000, 36.). Section 10(1)(o)(ii) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (the Act) was amended to exempt foreign employment income of a resident if the resident was outside his or her country of residence for a period exceeding 183 days (National Treasury, 2000, 5). National Treasury cautioned against this exemption and in the Explanatory Memorandum on the Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, 2000 it was stated, The effect of the relief measure will be monitored to determine whether certain categories of employees abuse it to earn foreign employment income without foreign taxation. The main purpose of the exemption was to prevent double taxation from occurring, considering the limited number of double taxation agreements concluded between South Africa and other countries at the time (Mzizi, 2017, 10). The exemption created an opportunity for double non-taxation where the source country imposes little or no tax on employment income and no tax was applied in South Africa (Legwaila, 2019). Consequently, in the Budget Review 2017, National Treasury sought to amend the provisions of s 10(1)(o)(ii) as it was seen to be ‘excessively generous’. At first, National Treasury proposed to repeal the exemption, however after much consultation and public comments received, National Treasury introduced a capped exemption limited to R1 million in line with the principle of fairness and progressivity (National Treasury, 2017b, 7). Subsequently, in the 2020 Budget Review, the exemption threshold was revised upwards to R1.25 million per year from 1 March 2020 to encourage all South Africans working abroad to maintain their ties to South Africa. In this report, the researcher investigates the qualifying requirements and implications of s 10(1)(o)(ii) on South African resident expatriates, their employers (local and foreign) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS)
dc.description.submitterMM2024
dc.facultyFaculty of Commerce, Law and Management
dc.identifier.citationMargolius, Caryn. (2022). A critical evaluation and comparative study on section 10(1)(o)(ii) foreign employment exemption [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38614
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38614
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
dc.rights© 2022 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
dc.rights.holderUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
dc.schoolSchool of Accountancy
dc.subjectUCTD
dc.subjectSouth African resident expatriate
dc.subjectLocal employer
dc.subjectForeign employer
dc.subjectForeign employment income
dc.subjectForeign employment income exemption
dc.subjectIncome Tax Act
dc.subjectBreaking tax residency
dc.subject.otherSDG-8: Decent work and economic growth
dc.titleA critical evaluation and comparative study on section 10(1)(o)(ii) foreign employment exemption
dc.typeDissertation
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Margolius_Critical_2024.pdf
Size:
1.18 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.43 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: