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Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 (Act No. 89 of 1991)

Part II : Value-Added Tax

17. Permissible deductions in respect of input tax

 

(1) Where goods or services are acquired or imported by a vendor partly for consumption, use or supply (hereinafter referred to as the intended use) in the course of making taxable supplies and partly for another intended use, the extent to which any tax which has become payable in respect of the supply to the vendor or the importation by the vendor, as the case may be, of such goods or services or in respect of such goods under section 7(3) or any amount determined in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of "input tax" in section 1, is input tax, shall be an amount which bears to the full amount of such tax or amount, as the case may be, the same ratio (as determined by the Commissioner in accordance with a ruling as contemplated in Chapter 7 of the Tax Administration Act or section 41B) as the intended use of such goods or services in the course of making taxable supplies bears to the total intended use of such goods or services: Provided that—
(i) where the intended use of goods or services in the course of making taxable supplies is equal to not less than 95 per cent of the total intended use of such goods or services, the goods or services concerned may for the purposes of this Act be regarded as having been acquired wholly for the purpose of making taxable supplies;
(ii) where goods or services are deemed by section 9(3)(b) to be successively supplied, the extent to which the tax relating to any payment referred to in that section is input tax may be estimated where the calculation cannot be made accurately until the completion of the supply of the goods or services, and in such case such estimate shall be adjusted on completion of the supply, any amount of input tax which has been overestimated being accounted for as output tax in the tax period during which the completion occurs and any amount of input tax which has been underestimated being accounted for as input tax in that period; and
(iii) where a method for determining the ratio referred to in this subsection had been approved by the Commissioner, that method may only be changed with effect from a future tax period, or from such other date as the Commissioner may consider equitable and such other date must fall—
(aa) in the case of a vendor who is a taxpayer as defined in section 1 of the Income Tax Act, within the year of assessment as defined in that Act; or
(bb) in the case of a vendor who is not a taxpayer as defined in section 1 of the Income Tax Act, within the period of twelve months ending on the last day of February, or if such vendor draws up annual financial statements in respect of a year ending other than on the last day of February, within that year,

during which the application for the aforementioned method was made by the vendor.

 

(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act to the contrary, a vendor, shall not be entitled to deduct from the sum of the amounts of output tax and refunds contemplated in section 16(3), any amount of input tax—
(a) in respect of goods or services acquired by such vendor to the extent that such goods or services are acquired for the purposes of entertainment: Provided that this paragraph shall not apply where—
(i) such goods or services are acquired by the vendor for making taxable supplies of entertainment in the ordinary course of an enterprise which—
(aa) continuously or regularly supplies entertainment to clients or customers (other than in the circumstances contemplated in item (bb)) for a consideration to the extent that such taxable supplies of entertainment are made for a charge which—
(A) covers all direct and indirect costs of such entertainment; or
(B) is equal to the open market value of such supply of entertainment,

unless—

(i) such costs or open market value is for bona fide promotion purposes not charged by the vendor in respect of the supply to recipients who are clients or customers in the ordinary course of the enterprise, of entertainment which is in all respects similar to the entertainment countinuously or regularly supplied to clients or customers for consideration; or
(ii) the goods or services were acquired by the vendor for purposes of making taxable supplies to such clients or customers of entertainment which consists of the provision of any food and a supply of any portion of such food is subsequently made to any employee of the vendor or to any welfare organisation as all such food was not consumed in the course of making such taxable supplies;
(bb) supplies entertainment to any employee or office holder of the vendor or any connected person in relation to the vendor, to the extent that such taxable supplies of entertainment are made for a charge which covers all direct and indirect costs of such entertainment;
(ii) such goods or services are acquired by the vendor for the consumption or enjoyment by that vendor (including, where the vendor is a partnership, a member of such partnership), an employee, office holder of such vendor, or a self-employed natural person in respect of a meal, refreshment or accommodation, in respect of any night that such vendor or member is by reason of the vendor's enterprise or, in the case of such employee, office holder or self-employed natural person, he or she is by reason of the duties of his or her employment, office or contractual relationship, obliged to spend away from his or her usual place of residence and from his or her usual working-place.    For the purposes of this section, the term "self-employed natural person" shall mean a person to whom an amount is paid or is payable in the course of any trade carried on by him or her independently of the person by whom such amount is paid or payable and of the person to whom the services have been or are to be rendered, as contemplated in the proviso to paragraph (ii) of the exclusions to the definition of ‘remuneration’ in paragraph 1 of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act;
(iii) such goods or services consist of entertainment supplied by the vendor as operator of any conveyance to a passenger or crew member, in such conveyance during a journey, where such entertainment is supplied as part of or in conjunction with the transport service supplied by the vendor, where the supply of such transport service is a taxable supply;
(iv) such goods or services consist of a meal or refreshment supplied by the vendor as organizer of a seminar or similar event to a participant in such seminar or similar event, the supply of such meal or refreshment is made during the course of or immediately before or after such seminar or similar event and a charge which covers the cost of such meal or refreshment is made by the vendor to the recipient;
(v) such goods or services are acquired by a municipality for the purpose of providing sporting or recreational facilities or public amenities to the public;
(vi) such goods or services are acquired by a welfare organization, for the purpose of making supplies in the furtherance of its aims and objects;
(vii) such goods or services are acquired by a vendor for an employee or office holder of such vendor, that are incidental to the admission into a medical care facility;
(viii) such goods or services consist of a meal or refreshment supplied by the vendor as operator of any ship or vessel (otherwise than in the circumstances contemplated in subparagraph (iii)) in such ship or vessel to a crew member of such ship or vessel, where such meal or refreshment is supplied in the course of making a taxable supply by that vendor; or
(ix) that entertainment is acquired by the vendor for the purpose of awarding that entertainment as a prize contemplated in section 16(3)(d) in consequence of a supply contemplated in section 8(13);
(b) in respect of any fees or subscriptions paid by the vendor in respect of membership of any club, association or society of a sporting, social or recreational nature; or
(c) in respect of any motor car supplied to or imported by the vendor: Provided that—
(i) this paragraph shall not apply where that motor car is acquired by the vendor exclusively for the purpose of making a taxable supply of that motor car in the ordinary course of an enterprise which continuously or regularly supplies motor cars, whether that supply is made by way of sale or under an instalment credit agreement or by way of rental agreement at an economic rental consideration;
(ii) for the purposes of this paragraph a motor car acquired by such vendor for demonstration purposes or for temporary use prior to a taxable supply by such vendor shall be deemed to be acquired exclusively for the purpose of making a taxable supply; and
(iii) this paragraph shall not apply where—
(aa) that motor car is acquired by the vendor for the purposes of awarding that motor car as a prize contemplated in section 16(3)(d) in consequence of a supply contemplated in section 8(13); or
(bb) the supply of that motor car is in the ordinary course of an enterprise which continuously or regularly supplies motor cars as prizes to clients or customers (other than to any employee or office holder of the vendor or any connected person in relation to that employee, office holder or vendor) to the extent that it is in consequence of a taxable supply made in the course or furtherance of an enterprise;
(d) in respect of any goods or services acquired by a superannuation scheme referred to in section 2, for the purposes of the supply by such scheme of any medical or dental services or services directly connected with such medical or dental services or of any goods necessary for or subordinate or incidental to the supply of any such services.
(e) [Section 17(2)(e) deleted by section 123 of Act No. 32 of 2004];

 

(2A) Subsection (2) shall not apply to input tax in respect of goods or services that are applied in the course or furtherance of a foreign donor funded project.

 

(3) Notwithstanding anything in section 16(4) , where a vendor has made a supply of goods as contemplated in section 8(10) and in respect of the acquisition thereof by the vendor a deduction of input tax under section 16(3) was denied in terms of subsection (2) of this section, the vendor shall not be required to account for output tax in relation to such supply.

 

(4) Where, but for the provisions of this subsection, an amount qualifies or has qualified for a deduction under more than one provision of this Act, a deduction of such amount, or any portion thereof, shall not be made more than once in the calculation of the amount of tax payable by any person.