Don Mahon

Website: https://mahonfoundation.org/
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The Copyright Amendment Bill and the many fronts of the battle
The Copyright Amendment Bill which is currently being developed, needs to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders. If the bill favours certain parties, it will not serve the entire copyright ecosystem fairly, and there will inevitably be winners and losers, argues Thato Moloto of…

SARS has a database of South Africans’ offshore holdings
South Africans who are moving money and assets offshore must keep in mind that the foreign financial institutions they are investing with are obligated to share the taxpayer’s investment information with the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”). While taxpayers may transfer as much money as they

Financial Action Task Force’s Potential Greylisting of South Africa
On 1 October 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its Report on South African Anti-money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Measures. FATF routinely conducts these evaluations to determine the extent of a country’s technical compliance with global anti-money laundering and …
https://www.polity.org.za/article/financial-action-task-forces-potential-greylisting-of-south-africa-2022-11-24

SARS (somewhat) lifts prohibition on distributions from resident trusts to offshore trusts
SARS will now consider applications from South African-resident trusts for approval to distribute funds to non-resident trusts The South African Revenue Service (SARS) practice, until recently, has been to not approve any applications for the release of funds by resident trusts vesting and

National Treasury’s pursuit to eliminate the Dividend Withholding Tax benefit under South African Double Tax Agreements
Dividend Withholding Tax (DWT) is levied on distributions that constitute a “dividend”, as defined in the Income Tax Act (ITA). This means that a 20% withholding obligation exists unless an exemption applies or, in the case of dividends distributed…

What South Africans lose when adopting foreign citizenship
Anyone who acquires citizenship in another country will automatically lose their South African citizenship. This includes all rights and privileges associated with being a South African citizen, including losing your right to a South African passport, one’s right to vote, etc. This condition is stip…
https://www.polity.org.za/article/what-south-africans-lose-when-adopting-foreign-citizenship-2022-09-15

Banking on climate change: The rise of climate finance related disputes
Following ESG trends, South Africa’s banking sector is gearing up to provide sustainable financing. This shift into a new era of clean energy will give rise to complex ESG related disputes, and stakeholders should consider including an arbitration clause in underlying contracts to mitigate…

Entrepreneurial Trends in Mediation Within the Commercial Sector
As is known throughout the world, mediation – as a dispute-resolution forum – offers the benefits of being a quick, cheap, private and confidential process. The principles of mediation allow for the process to be more client-focused as well. In South Africa, it has become common practice…

Expats Tax Residency Reset: Is SARS Constantly Shifting Goal Posts?
The South African Revenue Service’s (“SARS”) focus on South Africans abroad was first revealed in the 2017 Budget Speech. Their reasons were only revealed in the pursuant Parliamentary debate, where in the Q&A session it was shared that National Treasury and SARS had been keeping…