Technical analysis. South African regulatory context.
Black Heath Advisory publishes technical analysis on tax dispute procedure, financial reporting, restructuring, mining deal intelligence, and South African public-sector procurement and governance. Content is written by practising advisors, not a marketing team.
Weekly advisory series
Two specialist briefings. One Insights architecture.
SA Public-Sector Procurement and Governance Brief
Evidence-led updates on PFMA-aligned SCM, National Treasury and OCPO instruments, AGSA findings, and consequential SOE or DFI practice.
Decision-useful research for mining valuation, due diligence, contingent consideration and transaction structuring in South African and cross-border engagements.
Understanding Rule 30(2)(b): procedural consequences of non-appearance at a SARS tax board hearing.
Tax disputes in South Africa are governed not only by the substantive provisions of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011, but also by the dispute resolution rules made under section 103 of that Act. The current rules were published in Government Notice 3146 in Government Gazette 48188 of 10 March 2023, replacing the earlier rules of 2014. Those rules regulate objections, appeals and the conduct of hearings before both the tax board and the tax court. Rule 30 forms part of the rules dealing with the procedures of the tax board, and it addresses a narrow but consequential situation: the position of a party who did not appear at a tax board hearing and against whom the board then decided the matter.
June 2025 · 4 min read
Tax Dispute
Voluntary Disclosure Programme: When to apply and what SARS considers in mitigation
The Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) is a permanent mechanism in the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011, set out in Part B of Chapter 16. It allows a taxpayer to regularise a past default with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) before that default is uncovered through SARS enforcement activity. The premise is straightforward: a taxpayer who comes forward and discloses fully, on the terms the Act prescribes, is treated more favourably than one whose non-compliance is detected by SARS. The programme is available to individuals, companies, trusts and other taxpayers, and it covers a broad range of taxes administered under the Act.
May 2025 · 4 min read
Financial Reporting
IFRS for SMEs disclosure requirements for related-party transactions in owner-managed businesses
In owner-managed businesses the boundary between the owner and the entity is often narrow. The same individuals may hold the shares, sit on the board, guarantee the company's borrowings, lease property to the business and draw remuneration from it. Section 33 of the IFRS for SMEs Standard, dealing with related party disclosures, exists precisely because relationships of this kind can influence the reported financial position and performance of an entity, and because a reader of the financial statements cannot assess that influence unless it is disclosed. The section does not prohibit related party dealings, nor does it require them to be conducted on any particular commercial basis. Its function is disclosure: to make the relationships and their effects transparent to the users of the statements.
May 2025 · 5 min read
Restructuring
Section 155 compromise applications: creditor consent thresholds and SARS as creditor
Section 155 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 provides a statutory mechanism through which a company can propose an arrangement or compromise to its creditors, or to a class of creditors, outside of formal business rescue. It is important to distinguish this procedure from business rescue under Chapter 6 of the same Act. A section 155 compromise does not require that the company be financially distressed, it does not bring about a general moratorium on legal proceedings, and it does not involve the appointment of a practitioner to take over management. The proposal may be made by the board of the company or, where the company is in liquidation, by the liquidator. In practice the procedure is often used to restructure liabilities on a consensual basis, or to formalise an arrangement that a solvent but over-geared company wishes to reach with its lenders and other creditors.
April 2025 · 4 min read
Mining
Chrome ore pricing benchmarking for transfer pricing documentation: Methodology and data sources.
South Africa holds a substantial share of the world's chromite resources, and much of that ore is sold across borders to related marketing, trading or offtake entities within the same group. Where a South African producer transacts with a connected person that is not a resident, section 31 of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 applies the arm's length principle to that affected transaction, being the terms and pricing that independent parties dealing at arm's length would have agreed. The provision operates by recalculation rather than by direct command: where a non-arm's length term confers a tax benefit, the taxable income of the South African party must be calculated as if arm's length terms had applied, and a secondary adjustment can follow. That secondary adjustment is, for a company, treated as a deemed dividend and can attract dividends tax, so a departure from the standard carries a separate cash cost. For a commodity such as chrome ore, the practical question is almost always evidential: what does an arm's length price for this grade, in this form, on these delivery terms, at this date, actually look like, and how is that demonstrated in the documentation.
April 2025 · 5 min read
Offshore
Mauritius offshore holding structures and the dividends withholding tax provisions.
Mauritius remains a frequently used jurisdiction for offshore and intermediate holding companies in outbound structures involving South African groups. The attraction is not a single tax rate but a combination of factors: a stable common law system, an established fund and management-company industry, and a network of double taxation agreements. For South African tax purposes, the analysis of a Mauritian holding layer turns less on Mauritian domestic law and more on how South Africa's own rules, and the South Africa-Mauritius Double Taxation Agreement, treat flows into and out of that structure. This note deals with one specific interaction: dividends and the dividends withholding tax.
March 2025 · 5 min read
Governance
Beneficial ownership filing obligations under the General Laws Amendment Act: A practitioner checklist
The General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act was intended to bring South Africa's beneficial ownership regime into line with international expectations, in large part as a response to deficiencies identified by the Financial Action Task Force and to the risk of the country being placed under increased monitoring. It did so not through a single new statute but by amending several existing laws, most notably the Companies Act 71 of 2008 and the Trust Property Control Act, together with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and, among others, further statutes including the Nonprofit Organisations Act. The practical effect is that legal entities must now identify the natural persons who ultimately own or control them, keep that information current, and lodge it with the relevant regulator. For advisers, the obligation cuts across company secretarial, trust administration and client due diligence work, and it is best approached as a standing compliance duty rather than a once-off submission.
March 2025 · 4 min read
Stay informed
Technical analysis delivered when we publish it.
No marketing content. Unsubscribe at any time. POPIA compliant.
Colophon
Black Heath Advisory Insights is written by practising advisors at the firm. Set in Source Serif 4 and Source Sans 3. Published from Midrand, Gauteng.
Registered with SAICA and SARS
Nkhumeleni Musekwa
Founding Principal, Black Heath Advisory
Practitioner-level command of SARS dispute procedure, IFRS for SMEs, and the Tax Court Rules.
