The South African general anti-tax avoidance rule and lessons from the first world: a case law approach (original) (raw)

Tax avoidance has been a concern to revenue authorities since the time that the concept of tax was first introduced. Revenue authorities worldwide constantly strive to ensure taxpayer compliance, while combating impermissible tax avoidance. South Africa uses a general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) as part of its arsenal to combat the increasingly innovative ways in which taxpayers seek to minimise their tax. However, the GAAR has been the source of much criticism and its effectiveness in combatting impermissible tax avoidance is untested in the courts. Therefore, the use of hindsight to criticise the GAAR is not possible. This study applied a qualitative approach to compare the South African, Australian and Canadian GAARs in order to propose changes which are intended to improve the efficacy of the South African GAAR. This research was performed by first comparing the three GAARs using a doctrinal research methodology and then applying the South African GAAR to the facts of selected ca...