Tax Court: 2025–2023

The judgments delivered in the Tax Court on this page are arranged per year and then per date of delivery.

Tax Court judgments delivered in another year, can be accessed through the navigation pane above.

2024
Date of Delivery	Case Number	Applicable Legislation	Keywords
20 March 2024 New!	IT 45979	Income Tax Act, 1962	Deduction: Whether the Company XYZ deposits in respect of premiums paid to it are deductible in terms of section 11(a) of the Income Tax Act.
27 February 2024 New!	IT 45997	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Condonation for late delivery of discovery in terms of rule 36(6): Whether the Court should condone the late filing of the rule 36(6) notice which will result in SARS being obliged to respond to such notice.
14 February 2024 New!	14302	Income Tax Act, 1962 Tax Administration Act, 2011	Transfer pricing – arm’s length price adjustment: Whether appellant may appeal against an increased assessment imposed on it by the respondent.
14 January 2024	VAT 22402	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	The “ratio” of goods and services a vendor intends to use for taxable compared to other uses: Whether and how the Head Lease should be factored into the taxpayer’s section 17(1) apportionment ratio.
16 January 2024 New!	VAT 22498	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	A special plea, as a separate and preliminary point, to introduce a challenge to the Tax Court’s jurisdiction: Whether the ruling fits the description of the type of decision described in section 32(1)(a)(iv) of the VAT Act 89 of 21991, and not whether SARS refused to do something it should have done.
16 January 2024 New!	VAT 22425	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	Discovery of documentation and further particulars. The court was called upon to decide on three interlocutory applications as follows: First, an application by the taxpayer to compel SARS to furnish it with further discovery. Second, an application by the taxpayer to compel SARS to furnish it with further particulars. Third, an application by SARS to compel the taxpayer to furnish SARS with further discovery.
4 January 2024 New!	IT 124852	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Jurisdiction of Tax Court: Whether the appellant was in law entitled to claim the deduction of losses, which losses take the form of time-expired claims for refunds of duties and levies paid by the appellant in its 2013 year of assessment, under the rubric of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964.
2023
Date of Delivery	Case Number	Applicable Legislation	Keywords
8 December 2023	VAT 2218	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	Supply of services to non- resident: the nature of that supply, and whether it also constitutes in part a supply to the foreign tourists who subscribe to the foreign tour operator’s tours.
30 August 2023	VAT 1788	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 Tax Administration Act, 2011	Whether appellant was entitled to deduct VAT incurred on meals and accommodation provided to its employees as input tax, and whether respondent was entitled to impose an understatement penalty of 10%.
24 August 2023	IT 14305	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Interlocutory applications to amend Commissioner’s grounds of assessments and opposing appeal – Rule 31 statement; and Taxpayer to amend grounds of appeals – Rule 32 statement; whether the tested transaction was an arms-length one or not.
19 July 2023	IT 45638	Income Tax Act, 1962	Whether the taxpayer’s expenditure on the grant to Newco is properly characterised as being revenue or capital in nature
6 July 2023	IT 24870; IT 25162; IT 25166	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Prescription objection: Objection to a whole assessment is not permissible – capital gains tax.
3 July 2023	VAT 1373 & 13862	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	Value-added tax – whether the taxpayer under-declared income from mining activities – taxpayer underdeclared other income (non-mining income) for the relevant period – whether the taxpayer was entitled to claim CAPEX – whether SARS was justified to impose an understatement penalty of 200% – penalties in terms of the Fourth Schedule – section 89quat interest – prescription – costs.
2 June 2023	IT 24502	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Procedure: An opposed interlocutory application in terms of rule 51 (2) of the tax court rules for ‘a legality review in limine as part of’ the appellant’s pending tax appeal. The ‘principal purpose’ of the application is to seek the separate, advance determination of three “legal issues”. If the court grants the principal relief, the ‘secondary purpose’ is twofold and ‘to the extent necessary’: (a) for leave to amend the applicant’s rule 32 statement “consequentially”; and (b) permitting the applicant to raise a ‘collateral, defensive or reactive’ challenge to the lawfulness of the additional assessments referred to below. According to the applicant the three legal issues are potentially dispositive of the pending appeal, and if any one of them is determined in his favour there will be no need for the appeal to proceed for the hearing of evidence.
31 March 2023	25334	Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002	Whether SSN Taxpayer had mining rights in respect of those areas where third party infrastructure was located and subsequently relocated elsewhere.
23 March 2023	VAT 1518	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Procedure: Jurisdiction to hear application to reinstate appeal.
23 March 2023	IT 45935	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Procedure: Interlocutory application – whether statement delivered by the respondent (“SARS”) in terms of tax court rule 31 may be set aside as an irregular step – proper interpretation of certain rules/sub-rules, in particular the interplay between rules 4, 52(1), 52(6) and 56.
15 March 2023	35476	Tax Administration Act, 2011	Procedure: Interlocutory application to amend pleadings and request for further discovery.
14 March 2023	VAT 1922	Value-Added Tax Act, 1991	Value-added tax: Input tax deduction and levied additional output tax relating to the services supplied – whether the respondent was correct to disallow the input tax deduction and levied additional output tax relating to the services supplied to the appellant in the ‘Des’ purchase on the basis that it was not acquired wholly for the purpose of consumption, use or supply in the course of supplying goods or services supplied in the course of furtherance of the enterprise of the appellant.
23 February 2023	2022/37	Tax Administration Act, 2011 Employment Tax Incentive Act, 2013	Procedure: Determining good cause in the interest of justice – whether good cause was established not to grant the appellant the default judgment it sought.
21 February 2023	46206	Income Tax Act, 1962	Income tax: Set-off of assessed losses – whether the taxpayer may, in terms of section 20(1) of the Income Tax Act, set off (deduct) the balance of the foreign assessed loss from an aircraft partnership trade, as carried forward to the 2018 tax period, against the income received by or accrued to her in the form of recoupments arising from the deemed disposal, under section 9H of the Act, of partnership assets used in the conduct of a foreign trade.

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