A tax-compliance framework for short-term assignments in the Southern African development community - a South African perspective

Abstract

Short term assignments to other countries are increasing and it is important to take note of the associated potential tax compliance requirements. South Africa is part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) whose main objective is to advance the development and economic growth of the member countries through regional integration. It is difficult for persons with limited or no international tax background to identify potential taxes when going on short term assignments to other SADC countries as very little has been published with regard to the procedure to follow. The procedure to follow and the main tax concepts (corporate tax, personal tax, VAT and withholding tax) have not been published in a user friendly, holistic format to enable such persons to identify potential tax implications. In this research a conceptual tax-compliance framework was created and tested to enable persons to follow the procedure to identify potential taxes that could be triggered when going on short term assignments. It also enables them to have an understanding of the concepts of the main tax principles applicable in SADC countries that have double tax agreements in place with South Africa.