The use of corporate structures and tax avoidance

Includes bibliographical referencesSouth Africa has seen many developments in both the areas of corporate law and tax legislation. The legislation in question has developed from an apartheid or pre-democratic era to that of the current democratic South Africa, in which individuals have the freedom to become entrepreneurs, and have the opportunity to start up small to medium and larger enterprises, in order to firstly make a profit but also to ensure that they enjoy the benefits which the separate legal personality of Corporate Structures are entitled to. The focus of the research was to carefully study Corporate Structures created by directors and other entities and to show how these personalities make use of various arrangements to reduce tax liability, both by lawful and unlawful methods. In addition to this, the research involved a close analysis a of how a Corporate Structure is formed, from the date of incorporation of the entity, to the rights, and duties of the entity, the rights and duties of the role-players such as directors and shareholders, who control the entity and make the necessary decisions relating to the entity. The thesis focuses on the tests used by the courts to examine the true commercial substance of Corporate Structures and the arrangements put in place by these entities or individuals mentioned above. The above approach was applied by analysing the principle of Piercing the Corporate Veil both at common law and statutory level, the principles of Substance over Form, General Anti-Avoidance provisions and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 provisions, in light of the Anti-Avoidance provisions. It is trite law that taxpayers are allowed to arrange their affairs or commercial activities in a manner in which they may gain a tax advantage provided they do so, within the ambit of the law. The effect of the taxpayer having such freedoms is that many of the contracting parties or taxpayers abuse the legislative provisions and enter into transactions and commercial activities which circumvent the legal provisions. The framework of the analysis was to look at the Companies Act 71 of 2008, Income Tax 58 of 1962 and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 Acts respectively. The result of the research has shown that the tests put forward by the courts assist in ensuring that the principle of separate legal personality is upheld, taxpayers such as entities are free to arrange their affairs in a manner that allows a certain tax advantage provided it is within the ambit of the law. The study has shown that the doctrine of separate legal personality is upheld within our current legal system. There are many tax and legal benefits to natural persons establishing an entity; however these benefits should not lead to abuse by entities. Lastly, the courts will carefully scrutinise the commercial substance of a transaction and test whether the parties to the transaction have acted in accordance with the true principles of the transactions, the conclusion herein is therefore that the law should not interpret the modern commercial world with a closed minded approach and legislate strictly, without considering all the circumstances of a matter in light of the necessary law and policy considerations and in so doing, rather adopt a modern commercial minded approach. As a growing South African economy, entities should be permitted to arrange their commercial transactions and affairs in the best possible way to obtain a legal tax benefit and make profits which will ultimately ensure that we have a sustainable economy and strong Corporate Structures in place, in order to be placed in a stronger position in terms of an African perspective and compete more competitively at an International level