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In 1994, after the 1993 Constitution had been adopted, the Katz Commission questioned the constitutionality of some provisions of the Income Tax Act. The purpose of this article is, firstly, to follow up on the progress made in amending the provisions concerned and, secondly, to establish reasons for the lack of success achieved by taxpayers who attack the constitutionality of certain provisions. Some progress has been made, but in this article, the author argues that SARS should amend section 104(2) of the Act. The establishment of a specialist ombudsman’s office is also proposed. Such an office that could assist taxpayers to enforce their constitutional rights against the Commissioner is the essential missing element.

Collective Investment Schemes in Securities (‘CISS’) and Collective Investment Schemes in Property (CISP’) are common business vehicles in the South African economy. Nevertheless, there is still some uncertainty with regard to the tax treatment of these business structures, as the application of the specific income tax and capital gains tax provisions applicable to CISS and CISP results in several anomalies. The purpose of this article is to identify and highlight these anomalies by discussing the specific income tax and capital gains tax provisions applicable to CISS and CISP, and to suggest how some of these anomalies should be treated for tax purposes. It is submitted that the legislator did not consider the legal nature and practical operation of a CISS when the tax provisions for CISS were drafted. The tax treatment of CISP is also not without difficulties, especially where the CISP is constituted as an open‐ended investment company (OEIC’).

The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service has wide discretionary powers. In this article, the meaning, purpose, types, extent and exercise of these powers are examined. Do these powers promote uncertainty and/or unfairness and inconsistency, and if so, which of these powers do so? The extent of the powers given by some of the discretions not specifically subject to objection and appeal is questioned: no discretionary powers involving liability for tax should be allowed, especially not without the right to objection and appeal. Because of the general administrative relationship between the Commissioner and the taxpayer and because exercising a discretionary power constitutes an administrative action, the constitutionality of this power was examined in terms of taxpayers’ right to just administrative action. Only discretionary powers not specifically made subject to objection and appeal are open for constitutional attack.

Section 80A(c)(ii) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, as amended (the Act), introduced a new concept to the South African income tax environment: misuse or abuse of the provisions of the Act, including Part IIA thereof. According to the Revised Proposals on Tax Avoidance and section 103 of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (Revised Proposals) the rationale behind the insertion of section 80A(c)(ii) was to reinforce the modern approach to the interpretation of tax statutes “in order to find the meaning that harmonizes the wording, object, spirit and purpose of the provisions of the Income Tax Act”. The objective of this article is to examine the rationale behind section 80A(c)(ii) of the Act.

Years ago, the Katz Commission questioned the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1962. The purpose of this article is to investigate the general principles of human rights litigation and the progress made to date in respect of rectifying the unconstitutional provisions of the Income Tax Act that were identified by the Katz Commission. It has been established that, although some unconstitutional provisions have been amended, others still prevail, and that, in the light of the factors identified, they will probably not be challenged successfully by taxpayers.

To examine the business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the South African context.

A cross-sectional correlation research design involving quantitative and qualitative data.

The findings lend general support for the utility of business case oriented CSR strategic applications in the South African business context.

The small samples using accountancy students and high CSR performing companies restricted the generalizability of the findings. Also, the links between respondents’ propensity to purchase and actual purchasing behavior remained undetermined.

The chapter provides an empirically validated model measuring associations between individual perceptions of actual and expected CSP configurations with predilections to purchase products from a sample of high profile CSR multinational South African companies.

The results suggest the model’s cogency and lend general support to the utility of the business case strategy in the South African business context by showing associations between CSR company profiles and respondents’ intentions to purchase their goods and services.

The importance of CSR in providing social benefits in South African communities is reinforced by its strategic importance in offering business benefits to companies that invest in its implementation.

Development and empirical verification of a novel conceptual model in the South African business context.

This study aims to examine the role of mental health disorders (anxiety and depression) underlying the relationship between bullying and absenteeism. Moreover, the author tested the potentially moderating role that job autonomy, supervisor and colleagues’ support may play in the relationship between bullying and mental health disorders.

A moderated mediation analysis was conducted with a sample of French workers, controlling for their individual characteristics and their working conditions. The sample comprised 22,661 employees. This sample is representative of the French working population.

The results showed that the positive relationship between workplace bullying and absenteeism was partially mediated by anxiety and depression. In addition, job autonomy and supervisor support appear to be moderators of bullying effects. Regarding the moderating role of colleagues support, the study’s results are more nuanced.

Many studies show that exposure to workplace bullying increases the risk of developing mental health problems and sickness absence. This study extends previous studies by proposing a more comprehensive understanding of how and when bullying results in absenteeism. In particular, this study identified some moderators that can mitigate the harmful effects of workplace bullying on mental health and absenteeism. This study contributes to the literature on this subject by showing that organizations can reduce the potentially negative effects of workplace bullying. Organizational resources can help make individuals capable of coping with aggression. They thus contribute to their resilience.

This chapter examines and discusses the unintended outcomes of the production bonus scheme the mine had instituted to motivate and increase the productivity of the frontline mining teams. This is crucial given that the maladministration of the bonus system could lead to a range of undesired outcomes such as deteriorating levels of trust between management and frontline workers, prioritisation of production at the expense of safety, poor work relations and ultimately low levels of organisational, employee and team performance. There are a number of organisational, management and labour factors that can render a production bonus scheme effective or ineffective. These factors influence the nature and extent of worker reactions to the bonus scheme.

This chapter examines and discusses the factors that influenced the reaction of the mining teams to the team-based production bonus scheme and the extent to which mine management fulfilled its side of the bargain in the implementation of the production bonus. The chapter highlights the manner in which the team-based bonus system influenced teams of stope workers to engage in their informal organisational practice of making plan (planisa) in order to offset the snags that jeopardised their prospects of earning the production bonus. The chapter reveals that, to a large extent, the productivity bonus generated conflict rather than cooperation at the point of production down the mine. As a result, the incentive scheme failed to live up to expectations by not eliciting the desired levels of organisational, worker and team performance at the rock-face.

Controlled foreign company (“CFC”) legislation, governed by section 9D of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, serves as anti‐avoidance legislation in South Africa’s residence‐based tax system. Section 9D provides for the calculation of a deemed amount which must be included in the South African resident’s income. This deemed amount is calculated with reference to the net income for the CFC’s foreign tax year. Section 9D(6) provides for this deemed amount, which is denominated in the foreign financial reporting currency, to be translated into South African rand by applying the average exchange rate for that year of assessment. The legislation refers to the South African resident’s year of assessment and not the CFC’s foreign tax year. It is submitted that the average exchange rate for the CFC’s foreign tax year should be used for translation. The author therefore disputes the period to be used in calculating the average exchange rate.

Biodiversity conservation tax incentives were inserted into the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 in terms of the Revenue Laws Amendment Act 60 of 2008 and are now contained in section 37C. The objectives of this study were to quantify the maximum potential revenue loss, to National Treasury, as a result of these tax incentives granted to landowners in the Western Cape; to identify and discuss alternative policy instruments to encourage conservation; and to investigate the perceptions of landowners in the Western Cape on the tax and alternative incentives available for conservation. The study found that the maximum tax revenue foregone should amount to a tiny percentage of total estimated revenue income for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, while projected future losses could also be insignificant. Landowners prefer direct financial incentives and exemption from property taxes, and contend that direct assistance with conservation activities would also be beneficial. The use of municipal value in the valuation of land would promote objectiveness and consistency. Finally, only a third of the landowners indicated that tax incentives would encourage them to commit more land for conservation.