31
Hi,
Just a correction on the above posts. In simple terms (and based on your facts), there is no need to for you to treat it as a revenue (or trading) gain. You will however need to include it as a capital gain, and can apply the CGT exemption against it.
The detail is however more complex, (and at the risk of boring you), there is essentially two tests under south african tax law to determine whether it is a capital gain (taxed as capital gains) or as a revenue/trading profit (treated as normal income). These tests are
1. What was your intention when you bought the share (or sold the share)? Did you for example indulge in the business of trading, or did you have a more longterm (investing) view? (Case law and precedent is complex in this regard, and i'll return to it later)
2.Any result obtained in 1 above will be overriden if you hold the instrument for longer than 3 years. In which case you are obliged to treat any profit as a capital gain (or loss). I.e. you are essentially deemed to have a long term intention, and any profit is taxed as a capital gain.
In your case, as you've only held the shares for 1 year, point 2 above isn't relevant. And the intention question is key. The traditional tests to confirm intention is things like
- Number of trades
- Frequency of trades
- Length held etc.
- Reasons for sales
In your case, i'm adamant that your intention was capital (i.e. long term), based on the following;
- You only ever purchased one instrument
- You held it for a relatively long period of time (1 year)
- Frequency of trades is minimal.
- The instrument you purchased, unit trusts (even more so a balanced fund), is not traditionally an instrument used by traders. An indicates a long term intention
- You are selling the instrument to re-balance your portfolio (very NB)
- (never admit you are selling to take profit).
From the evidence, i'd say you always had a long term investing intention, and thus you're gains should be taxed as capital gains. My view of the risk of SARS differing in view as being low to non-existent.
Note. Above is based on the info that you have given.
Just a correction on the above posts. In simple terms (and based on your facts), there is no need to for you to treat it as a revenue (or trading) gain. You will however need to include it as a capital gain, and can apply the CGT exemption against it.
The detail is however more complex, (and at the risk of boring you), there is essentially two tests under south african tax law to determine whether it is a capital gain (taxed as capital gains) or as a revenue/trading profit (treated as normal income). These tests are
1. What was your intention when you bought the share (or sold the share)? Did you for example indulge in the business of trading, or did you have a more longterm (investing) view? (Case law and precedent is complex in this regard, and i'll return to it later)
2.Any result obtained in 1 above will be overriden if you hold the instrument for longer than 3 years. In which case you are obliged to treat any profit as a capital gain (or loss). I.e. you are essentially deemed to have a long term intention, and any profit is taxed as a capital gain.
In your case, as you've only held the shares for 1 year, point 2 above isn't relevant. And the intention question is key. The traditional tests to confirm intention is things like
- Number of trades
- Frequency of trades
- Length held etc.
- Reasons for sales
In your case, i'm adamant that your intention was capital (i.e. long term), based on the following;
- You only ever purchased one instrument
- You held it for a relatively long period of time (1 year)
- Frequency of trades is minimal.
- The instrument you purchased, unit trusts (even more so a balanced fund), is not traditionally an instrument used by traders. An indicates a long term intention
- You are selling the instrument to re-balance your portfolio (very NB)
- (never admit you are selling to take profit).
From the evidence, i'd say you always had a long term investing intention, and thus you're gains should be taxed as capital gains. My view of the risk of SARS differing in view as being low to non-existent.
Note. Above is based on the info that you have given.