Do South Africa’s e-commerce VAT rules measure up to international trends and OECD guidelines?
Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Do South Africa’s e-commerce VAT rules measure up to international trends and OECD guidelines? | |
| Creator | Loffstadt, Alexandra Ndlovu, Jane Padia, Misha | |
| Description | Orientation: The taxability of e-commerce transactions have been the subject of many studies to protect governments from Value-Added Tax (VAT) erosion, illegal recovery and fraud.Research purpose: This study critically analyses the challenges posed by e-commerce transactions in South Africa’s VAT Act. Recommendations are made for amendments to the VAT Act to improve rules to effectively tax e-commerce transactions occurring in South Africa.Motivation for the study: Globally, including in South Africa, enforcing relevant VAT legislation to target output tax collections and input tax credits from e-commerce transactions aptly remains a challenge.Research approach/design and method: By integrating qualitative literature reviews and comparative synthesis, this study employed a comparative legal methodology. VAT levied on e-commerce transactions in South Africa is compared to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s guidelines as well as New Zealand’s and Australia’s Goods and Services Tax legislations.Main Findings: While the South African VAT Act aligns with international best practices on the use of intermediaries, there are some differences as detailed in the study.Practical/managerial implications: To align with international trade counterparts, the South African VAT Act should differentiate between business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales. A provision concerning the place of consumption for bundled goods should be included in the VAT Act. The VAT Act should contain a provision that allows bad debts to be claimed on cash sales made instead of total sales made.Contribution/value-add: This study harmonises South African VAT legislation with international best practices within the context of continual advancement of e-commerce transactions. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2023-03-29 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/jef.v16i1.815 | |
| Source | Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences; Vol 16, No 1 (2023); 15 pages 2312-2803 1995-7076 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/815/1565
https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/815/1566
https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/815/1567
https://jefjournal.org.za/index.php/jef/article/view/815/1568
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