Tag Archive for Income Tax

South Africa: Typical Tax Treaty Issues Facing Tax Emigrants

treatyTypical Double Tax Agreement (DTA) or treaty issues we face on a daily basis can be summarised as follow:

United Kingdom / South Africa DTA

1. Tax residency change not timeously reported to either SARS or HMRC
Most client suggest that they need file or report their SA income to the UK tax authority as they were non-domiciled in the UK and as the lump sum was not remitted to the UK, they need to pay UK tax on the lump sum income. No, says HMRC although you are non-domiciled you are subject to UK tax on lump sums received in SA, albeit not remitted to the UK, as lump sums are taxed on the arising basis and not on the remittance basis. In short, you cannot defer UK tax on the lump sum arising in SA, by sending said lump sum to Channel Islands, USA or EU nor can you escape the UK tax exposure by keeping the lump sum in your blocked account in South Africa.

2. The treaty dictates that lump sum received from South African fund managers on retirement annuity fund (RA) lump sums or pension/preservation funds, are tax exempt in SA and UK taxed only
This argument is most often presented to us by clients having called the HMRC call centre. We do not know how the client explained the situation to the HMRC call centre but suffice to say the answer is incorrect. The fact that HMRC refers you to Article 17 of the treaty is not adequate as the said article does not deal with lump sums. Article 17 specifically states that for purposes of the agreement an annuity taxable in the new home country only, is a fixed amount paid on a regular basis. You need not be tax lawyer to understand why the lump sum will never fall into this category of treaty exempt (in SA) annuity payments. Read More

Written by | Posted in Africa • Australia/Oceania • Estate Planning Tax • Expatriate • FATCA • FBAR • Individual • International • VAT

REITs – A South African perspective as an OTC investment option

iStock_ Africa Money and Flag XSmallReal Estate Investment Trusts or REITs is a well known internationally known appropriate business structure yet South Africa only adopted its tax law as of April 1st, 2013 and its stock exchange listed or publicly listed trading rules to accommodate REIT’s as of May 1st, 2013.

Since then many property groups not only converted to a listed REIT but also restructured their balance sheets to remove the debt linked to a unit or a share. Now, on September 6th, the first American Depositry Receipt (ADR) status was granted to a South African listed REIT. One ADR unit equals 10 REIT units on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Despite the ZA Rand being at a 3 week high, the more recent currency exchange is circa R10=1U$D.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)

REIT’s are tax transparent or tax through flow investment vehicles that invest in and derive their income from real estate properties and mortgage, without necessarily paying tax on their trade result. To qualify for the South African REIT dispensation, a the REIT (either a company or a trust) must be tax resident in South Africa and be listed as an REIT in terms of the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) listing requirements.

REIT profits are distributed as tax deductible expenses (effectively pre-tax income) which is then received and taxed in the investors’ hands as taxable dividend income. As of 1 January 2014 the SA dividend withholding tax at 15% or the treaty governed rate where the investor is resident in a treaty country, will apply to nonresident investors. Read More

Written by | Posted in Africa • International • North America • Property Tax • Real Estate • United States

US Tax: Property Transfers At Divorce And The Foreign (Non-US) Spouse

House and lawAs if divorce were not a stressful enough time, the complexities of the US tax rules when a non-US spouse is involved just make it all the more unbearable.

Here are the US Tax basics to keep in mind with respect to property transfers. (Payments of alimony will be the subject of another tax blog posting).

You May Have Both Income Tax and Gift Tax Issues

Under the general US tax rules, asset transfers between spouses incident to a divorce are tax-free under Code Section 1041. There is no realization of a gain or loss by the transferor-spouse upon such a transfer of property. Instead, the transfer is treated as a “gift”. If the spouses are both US citizens, the case is straightforward and simple – no US Income tax or Gift tax consequences will result. Not so simple if one spouse is a non-US citizen and even more complex if the non-citizen spouse is also a “nonresident” alien (NRA).

A transfer is treated as incident to a divorce if it takes place within a year of the divorce or is “related to the cessation of the marriage”. Generally, a transfer is related to the cessation of the marriage if it is pursuant to a divorce or separation agreement and occurs not more than 6 years after the date on which the marriage ceases.

Very significantly, in order for the income tax-free treatment of Code Section 1041 to apply, the recipient of the property cannot be a “nonresident alien” (NRA). For example, if you transfer appreciated stock to your NRA spouse as part of the divorce settlement, you will have to pay tax on the inherent gain in the stock, generally just as if you sold it. In addition you may have Gift Tax consequences. Read More

Written by | Posted in North America • Property Tax • Real Estate

Tips on Successfully Staffing Your Tax Department

In 2012, the Sales Tax Institute prepared and distributed a survey to 1,243 companies throughout the United States. The survey was sent to tax department vice presidents, tax directors, CFO’s, treasurers and controllers.  Our goal was to identify the best practices used by tax leaders, as well as helpful tips that could be shared with others. The survey results were used to benchmark attendees at the Institute’s Tax Leader Summit held in the fall of 2012. In this post, we will share some of the key findings of the research as well as some of the key takeaways identified by the Summit participants relating to staffing the tax department.

The most important component to being a “best-in-class” tax department is having the appropriate staff.  One of the keys to this success is to maintain appropriate staffing levels.  An equal number of our survey respondents felt their department was appropriately staffed as felt that it was understaffed. However, only 20% of the companies actually have their staff track their time, and only 32% track the tasks within the department with an estimate of the effort required. It is a best practice to have these types of processes in place in order to be more confident that your employees accomplish as much as possible in a given week.

Development of your staff through training is one of the foundations of a best in class tax department.  Training should Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

Penny Taxwise – The Skinny on Self-Employment Taxes

Hola, my tax-conscious compadres! Penny Taxwise here, back again with another installment of tax-tacular advice for your reading pleasure. This week, I chose an answered question from another Tax Connections member – the query was one I’ve pondered myself quite a bit lately. I want you to take a look at the original question before we get into the discussion portion of the program:

What is Self-Employment Tax and is this in addition to other taxes I pay as a small business owner at the end of the year?

This question is extremely relevant to my own situation – I’ve been doing the freelance writing thing for some time now, but this past year will be the first tax cycle I’ll have officially done it full-time (pause for applause). I myself have wondered how the whole tax thing should go down for the work-at-home crowd. I guess some part of me understood that my income taxes would be separate from the self-employment taxes I’d need to pay, but I was a bit fuzzy on the specifics.

Tax Pros to the Rescue

One of the dynamite Tax Connections gurus, Gary Carter, rushed right to the rescue with a fantastic (and not confusing – whew!) answer to the question. He’s the President of GW Carter, Ltd, Certified Public Accountants in Minnesota.

According to Carter:

Self-Employment tax is Social Security and Medicare tax for self-employed individuals. The rate is 13.3% of your self-employment net income for 2012 (10.4% for Social Security tax and 2.9% for Medicare tax).

Essentially, Carter’s saying that self-employment tax is the money that would be taken out of your paycheck automatically if you worked for an outside employer. When you work for yourself, your tax liability is the same as those who are externally employed, you’re simply responsible for paying into the system on your own.

Carter continued his answer by enlightening the asker about some upcoming changes to the tax code. “Beginning in 2013,” he says, “the rate for Social Security tax will increase by 2%, so the combined rate will be 15.3%.”

He also warns that self-employed individuals should be aware that their self-employment net income is the net income shown on Schedule C of Form 1040 – and not their taxable income. That’s why a self-employed person could have no taxable income yet still owe self-employment tax.

Make sense?

Yeah, it kind of confused me too. Luckily, Carter provided an example in his answer for those of us who need a little help wrapping our brains around this info. Gotta love those TC Tax Pros! Here’s what he said: “[L]et’s say your net income on Schedule C is $27,000 in 2012, and you are married filing jointly with two dependent children. Your taxable income is zero after your 4 exemptions and the standard deduction ($27,000 – ($3,800 x 4) – $11,900), but you will owe $3,591 in Self-Employment tax.”

That illustration really hit home for me because – jackpot – he described my exact tax situation. No joke. So now I understand – even though my income taxes will be zilch, I’ll still need to pony up a few thousand to cover my Medicare and Social Security. Makes sense… I’d better start padding the ol’ savings account before the tax man comes calling.

Bracing for the Blow of a Big Tax Bill

Now that we’re clear on the semantics of self-employment taxes, let’s shift the focus to footing the bill. Many self-employed people (cough, cough… myself included) fail to save adequately for the taxes that will inevitably find them each and every year they work for themselves. That’s why implementing some sort of system to set aside money for Uncle Sam is vital to protecting your bottom line – and your biz.

Once you pay self-employment taxes for the first time, you’ll be able to figure out roughly how much you’ll owe for the upcoming year. That is, unless you expect your income to sharply rise or fall. If you’re confident that everything will indeed stay consistent, however, then you have a solid figure with which to work.

Here’s my plan. I’m opening a dedicated savings account strictly for my tax savings. I won’t allow myself easy access to the funds – in fact, I’m planning to request that my bank limit my ability to transfer money from the account to my checking, if at all possible. I’ll dump a portion of everything I earn into the account – before I deposit the remaining money into my checking. If I overestimate my tax bill a bit one year, no problem. The leftover dough will be a great cushion for the following year’s bill.

Self-employment taxes are no joke, and neither is self-employment. I’m learning that the hard way. Without a boss hanging over your shoulder barking orders or a payroll department to neatly deduct taxes from your paycheck before you see it, it’s tough to regulate yourself. That’s why it’s so important to set up systems to regulate your business behavior. No one’s gonna catch you if you fall, so you might as well build yourself a net.

Until next time, my taxpaying friends!

Making Cents Count,

Penny

Written by | Posted in Individual • North America • State And Local Tax (SALT) • Tax Policy • TaxConnections
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