A comparison of the taxation of foreign investors between South Africa and Mauritius

Abstract

South Africa's ability to attract foreign investors and the related tax legislation and Exchange Controls surrounding it has been a topic of great debate over the past couple of years. There has been a constant flow of multinational companies to Mauritius to house their headquarters there to use it as a gateway into African countries. Although prior research has been performed in the United States on the taxation of foreign investors, no research on this topic has been performed from a South African perspective. This study extends on these prior studies by performing an analysis of the taxation of foreign investors and the related exchange controls from a South African perspective. The main aim of this study is to determine how South Africa can amend the current income tax legislation and exchange controls effectively to make South Africa more attractive for foreign investors and to be more competitive with Mauritius for multinationals to host their headquarters in South Africa as a gateway to other African countries. From a theoretical perspective, the study aims to identify areas in the South African tax legislation to be revisited and revised or refined to make South Africa more attractive for foreign investors and to make it more competitive to attract multinationals to South Africa. Although South Africa introduced the new international headquarter company regime in 2011, this study aims to investigate, analyse and compare it to the previous attempt in 2002 as well as to an ideal international headquarter company regime. This study compares South Africa to Mauritius as a tax jurisdiction in terms of effective tax rates, international headquarter company regimes as well as practicality with regard to its infrastructures, banking networks, tax treaty agreements, quality of life and various options available. This study also aims to provide suggestions for the National Treasury to amend current tax legislation to make South Africa more attractive for foreign investors and to make it more competitive with other tax jurisdictions, such as Mauritius. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bam, J 2011, A comparison of the taxation of foreign investors between South Africa and Mauritius, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03222012-130046 / > F12/4/172/gm