The transfer of primary residence and tax implications involved.

Abstract

Chapter 1 Introduction In his budget speech of23 February 2000 the minister of finance Mr Trevor Manuel announced the introduction of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in South Africa. Internationally, the idea of such tax is uncommon, with many ofour trading partners having implemented CGT decades ago. In order to give effect on the proposal relating to CGT, an Eighth Schedule has been added to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. The Eighth Schedule determines a taxable gain or loss and a new section 26A of the principal Act provides that the taxable gain is included in taxable income. The date from which capital gains tax started was 1 October 2001. Chapter 2 The transfer ofprimary residence from private individuals The Department of Inland Revenue makes a distinction between what it calls Property Investors and Property Traders. This is a very important distinction; A Property Investor will be liable to pay Income Tax , on rental income and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on profits made when selling the property in the normal way, however, a Property Dealer (also known as a trader) will find that all his or her profits made on the sale of a property are taxed as Income Tax and not taxed as Capital Gains. So, the key to deciding your tax minimising strategy is figure out whether you will be treated as a dealer or an investor. The Eighth Schedule to th~ Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 provides that only natural persons (individuals) are entitled to exclude the first R1 million of gains on disposal of their primary residences. Chapter 3 & 4 The transfer of primary residence from Trusts, Companies and Close Corporations Many individuals have historically purchased their residence in companies for a variety of reasons, including protection from creditors, avoidance of transfer duty and estate duty and circumvention of the repealed Group Areas Act. These persons now face a potential Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability when their company, close corporation or trust disposes of the residence. ~ The Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act 2004 provides that only natural persons (individuals) and special trusts are entitled to exclude the first R1 million of gains on disposal of their primary residence. This exclusion does not apply where a company, close corporation or trust owns the residence. Chapter 5 Transfer Duty A system whereby conveyancers will be able to lodge transfer duty declarations and make payments electronically via the internet will become operational during April 2005. Conveyancers will be ab, le to lodge the declarations by transferors (sellers) and transferees (purchasers) to SARS branches electronically and simultaneously make payments to designated SARS bank accounts. SARS will verify the duty calculations and authorizes the issue of a transfer duty receipt. Conveyancers wishing to make use of ev filing should register as e-filers by visiting the e-Commerce section of the SARS website. Chapter 6 Conclusion and Recommendations