Value-added tax : a story of customer loyalty programmes

Abstract

The South African tax system provides tax revenue to fund the expenditure incurred by the South African government. However, due to the severe harm caused by the COVID- 19 pandemic, which disrupted and damaged economies worldwide, the South African government is more in need of additional sources of tax revenues than ever. Customer Loyalty Programmes (CLPs) in South Africa have increased in popularity and uptake, and consequently, it may be beneficial for the fiscus to consider increasing tax revenues by taxing rewards granted to customers who participate in CLPs.

Commentators have argued that the current value-added tax (VAT) system provides room for the taxation of CLP rewards granted to customers, however, differing opinions and limited legal guidance are available in this regard. This study, therefore, followed a qualitative, doctrinal research approach to ascertain, amongst others, the current main arguments in relevant literature regarding the VAT taxability of CLP rewards.

The findings of this study revealed that two main schools of thought regarding the VAT taxability of CLP rewards exist in current literature. This study aims to contribute a third school of thought to the VAT consequences arising from the granting of CLP rewards. The first school of thought supposes that a customer participating in a CLP will receive the CLP reward free of charge. In other words, the customer pays for the goods or services acquired from the CLP operator, and the CLP operator grants CLP rewards at no additional cost to the customer. The second school of thought, however, contends that the customer participating in a CLP is, in fact, paying for the CLP reward in money. This school of thought, which is drawn from the accounting treatment of CLP rewards granted, regards the amount paid by the customer to the CLP operator for the goods and/or services purchased as comprising a part-payment for the goods and/or services purchased, and a part-payment for the CLP rewards granted. The third and final school of thought as proposed by this study suggests that the customer provides a consideration for CLP rewards, in the form of customer information. This proposed school of thought is an original contribution made by the present study and is supported by the objectives of a CLP outlined by researchers, and the terms and conditions of the three most-used CLPs of 2021 in South Africa. The result of consideration being given for the granting of CLP rewards is that output tax will have to be raised by the CLP operator on the supply of these CLP rewards and the burden of this output

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tax will be carried by the CLP operators themselves. This study found that the predominant argument held by commentators aligns with the first school of thought, which is that CLP members receive CLP rewards free of charge. Consequently, if this school of thought is followed, the granting of CLP rewards will not attract VAT.