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Supreme Court Rules on VAT Deduction for Underwriting Fees in South Africa

  • The Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a judgment on VAT treatment of underwriting fees involving Woolworths Holdings Limited.
  • Key issues included whether Woolworths could deduct VAT on local underwriting fees and if it needed to pay VAT on fees to non-resident providers.
  • Woolworths is an investment holding company providing management and financial services to subsidiaries.
  • In 2014, Woolworths acquired David Jones Limited shares, funded partly by a rights offer to shareholders.
  • Woolworths deducted input tax on local underwriting services and declared VAT on imported services.
  • SARS argued the underwriting services were not for enterprise purposes, citing lack of continuous share issuance activity.
  • Woolworths claimed it conducted an enterprise and acquired underwriting services to further its business.

Source: cms-lawnow.com

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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