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On the 20th of February 2019, the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, delivered to Parliament the 2019 Budget speech. From a tax perspective, there are a number of tax legislative provisions to be reviewed. The endorsing legislation in respect of these tax provisions to be reviewed and proposals thereto will only be made available for public comment later this year.

LexAgri is a monthly newsletter aimed at all and sundry in the agricultural industry. These participants include producers, cooperatives, traders, organized agriculture, suppliers of agricultural equipment and consumer goods, etc.

In Cilliers v LA Concorde Holdings Limited and Others, the Western Cape High Court was confronted with the question if appraisal rights in terms of sec. 164 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the “Act”) are extended to the shareholders of a holding company if such holding company’s subsidiary concludes a transaction to dispose of all or the greater part of its assets or undertaking.

Sections 34 of the Tax Administration Act (TAA) deals with ‘‘reportable arrangements’’. A Reportable Arrangement has certain characteristics (as listed in the TAA) and where one person promotes the arrangement and another person derives a tax benefit from the arrangement. If all criteria (as listed in TAA) is present, every company or trust which derives a tax benefit, must report that arrangement to SARS within 60 days after the date that any amount is first received by any person in terms of that arrangement.

In a ground-breaking case on whether shareholders can sue directors and auditors of companies in which they own shares for the loss in value of their wealth, due to a breach by directors of their fiduciary duties, the High Court - Pretoria granted African Bank Investment’s shareholders leave to appeal the judgment.

Parties to a sale of shares agreement may elect to defer the payment of the full purchase price or a portion thereof, often subject to interest on the due amount. This may result in the Seller having to register as a credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 (the “Act”).

To explain the ruling of the court, Respublica entered into a lease agreement with the Tshwane University of Technology (the ‘‘TUT’’). A furnished premise with amenities was let to TUT for the sole purpose of providing accommodation to students. TUT in return, entered into sub-leases with students.

Section 12J of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) prohibits a Venture Capital Company (“VCC”) to invest in an investee company which does not meet all the requirements of a ‘qualifying investee company’ (“QIC”) as set out in the Act.

The Department of Trade and Industry published the new draft generic B-BBEE Codes for public comment.

A company’s conduct must at all times be aligned with the ‘spirit’ of the Companies Act, 71 of 2008 (the “Act”), being “high standards of corporate governance and high levels of transparency”.

The Supreme Court of Appeal was requested to consider whether the holder of a preference share was entitled to convert same to an ordinary share without the consent of the holders of 75% of the ordinary shares. The outcome would determine the valuation of the preference shares and the capital gain tax implications. The share capital of the Sidney Ellerine Trust (Pty) Ltd (the “Company”) consisted of 600 issued ordinary shares of R1/share and 112 000 redeemable non-cumulative preference shares of R1/share (the “Preference Shares”). All the issued Preference Shares were held by the late Sidney Ellerine (the “Deceased”).

Volkswagen South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service [2018] 1 All SA 716 (SCA)