Case Law[2025] ZAGPPHC 152South Africa
Naude v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service and Another (51712/2017) [2025] ZAGPPHC 152 (13 February 2025)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)
13 February 2025
Judgment
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# South Africa: North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria
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## Naude v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service and Another (51712/2017) [2025] ZAGPPHC 152 (13 February 2025)
Naude v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service and Another (51712/2017) [2025] ZAGPPHC 152 (13 February 2025)
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sino date 13 February 2025
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA
Case
Number: 51712/2017
(1)
REPORTABLE: NO
(2)
OF INTEREST TO OTHER JUDGES: NO
(3)
REVISED: YES/NO
DATE:
13//02/25
SIGNATURE
In
the matter between:
JACOBUS
PETRUS JACOBUS NAUDE
Applicants
And
COMMISSIONER
FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN
First Respondent
REVENUE
SERVICE
SOUTH
AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
Second Respondent
JUDGMENT
Joyini
AJ
INTRODUCTION
[1]
The applicant seeks an order setting aside the first respondent's
tariff determination and/or
decision in terms whereof the first
respondent resolved not to allow a refund of the fuel levy and Road
Accident Fund levy ("the
fuel levy") leviable on distillate
fuel and/or on diesel purchases in accordance with the provisions of
section 75(1A) of
the Customs and Excise Act, 91 of 1964 (as amended)
("the Act") and Rebate Item 670.04 of Schedule 6, Part 3 to
the Act,
to the extent stated in the said Rebate Item.
[2]
The application is opposed by the first and second respondents (“the
respondents”).
RELIEF
SOUGHT BY APPLICANT
[3]
The court is called upon to issue an order as follows:
“
1.
The first respondent's tariff determination and/or decision [in terms
whereof the first respondent resolved not to allow a refund
of the
fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy ("the fuel levy")
leviable on distillate fuel and/or on diesel purchases
in accordance
with the provisions of section 75(1A) of the Customs and Excise Act,
91 of 1964 (as amended) ("the Act")
and Rebate Item 670.04
of Schedule 6, Part 3 to the Act, to the extent stated in the said
Rebate Item], is set aside;
2.
It is declared that the applicant is entitled to refunds of the fuel
levy leviable on distillate fuel and/or diesel in terms
of section
75(1A) of the Act in accordance with the provisions of section 75 of
the Act and in accordance with Rebate Item 670.04
of Schedule 6, Part
3 to the Act, to the extent stated in the said Rebate Item, in
respect of the following tax periods: 12/2013,
02/2014, 04/2014,
06/2014, 08/2014, 10/2014, 12/2014, 02/2015, 04/2015, 06/2015,
08/2015, 10/2015, 12/2015, 02/2016, 04/2016, and
06/2016 (“the
tax periods”);
It
is declared that:
3.1.
Pursuant to the first and second respondents’ letter of
finalisation of audit dated 06 October 2016, the first and second
respondents have failed to issue any notice of assessment to the
Applicant in respect of refunds of the fuel levy leviable on
distillate fuel and/or diesel in accordance with the provisions of
the Act and/or the Value-Added Tax Act, 89 of 1991 (as amended),
for
the tax periods;
3.2.
The purported tax debt relied on by the first and second respondents
(insofar as the first and/or second respondents contend
that the
applicant is liable to make payment of a refund of the fuel levy
leviable on distillate fuel and/or diesel in terms of
the Act, for
the tax periods) are not due and payable by the applicant to any of
the respondents;
3.3.
All collection steps taken by the first and second respondents
against the applicant, in respect of the purported tax debt,
including notice(s) issued by the First and/or Second Respondents to
third parties in terms of section 179 of the Tax Administration
Act,
28 of 2011 (as amended) (“the TAA”) are null and void,
alternatively irregular, and set aside;
4.
The first and second respondents are ordered to pay the amount of R
664,637.46 to the applicant, in respect of funds received
by the
first and second respondents which are due and owing to the applicant
by the relevant third party(ies);
5.
The first and second respondents are ordered to pay the costs of this
application, including the costs of two counsel, jointly
and
severally, the one paying the other to be absolved.”
DIESEL
REFUND
[4]
In order to contextualise the issue and to indicate what needs to be
submitted to SARS in order to qualify
for a diesel refund, it is
necessary to briefly restate the statutory provision.
[5]
In terms of Section 75(1)(e), subject to whatever conditions the
Commissioner may impose, a refund of the
fuel levy and the Road
Accident Fund levy levied on fuel may be granted in certain
circumstances
[6]
To qualify for such a refund the “
user
” of the
diesel has to satisfy the requirements set out in rebate item 670.04
included in Part 3 of Schedule 6 of the Act
(the rebate item). This
item determines under which circumstances users who purchased diesel
may become “
eligible
” for consideration of
refunds.
[7]
How does one then indicate to SARS which use of diesel or which
operations performed by vehicles and equipment
would qualify to be
“
eligible
” for a refund? It is quite apparent that
meticulous records must be kept, such as logbooks. The details to be
reflected in
such logbooks which would satisfy SARS that the refund
claimed was for eligible use, is to be found in the following
definition
thereof, also contained in note 6:
“
(xi) ‘Logbooks’
means systematic written tabulated statements with columns in which
are regularly entered periodic
(hourly, daily, weekly or monthly)
records of all activities and occurrences that impact on the validity
of refund claims. Logbooks
should indicate a full audit trail of
distillate fuel for which refunds are claimed, from purchase to use
thereof. Storage logbooks
should reflect details of distillate fuel
purchases, source thereof, how dispersed/disposed and purpose of
disposal. Logbooks on
distillate fuel used should contain details on
source of fuel, date, place and purpose of utilisation, equipment
fuelled, eligible
or non-eligible operations performed, and records
of fuel consumed by any such machine, vehicle, device or system.
Logbook entries
must be substantiated by the required source
documents and appropriate additional information that include
manufacture specification
of equipment, of operator, intensity of use
(e.g. distance, duration, route, speed, rate) and other incidents,
facts and observations
relevant to the measurement of eligible diesel
use”.
[8]
Having regard, yet again, the exclusions alluded to in Note 6, it
must follow that whatever logbooks are produced,
must contain
sufficient detail that it can be determined therefrom which of the
diesel used was for primary and which for secondary
or other
operations. This detail requirement has already been determined by
our courts as follows: “
There
are many instances where a dispensing record would indicate the use
of the vehicle at the time of dispensing but that use
would change
over time and conceivably cover eligible as well as non-eligible
activities and the dispensing record in such instances
would not be a
correct reflection of a diesel usage which occurred
”
and “…
the
question is not whether it is fair or logical to include only one leg
of a trip as being eligible but rather what the scope
of the eligible
activity is when regard is had to the schedule and in this regard
there is no reason to depart from the clear language
used by the
legislator.
”
[1]
LEGISLATIVE
PROVISIONS
[9]
Diesel refunds are regulated by Chapter X, Section 75 of the Act,
read with item 670.04 and Part
III of Schedule 6. In summary, an
applicant for diesel refund must satisfy the Commissioner that the
following requirements have
been met:
(i)
The applicant must be registered as a VAT vendor in terms of the
VAT
Act
,
Act
89 of 1991
.
(ii)
Once the applicant qualifies as a user and claims a refund of diesel
that qualifies as distillate fuel, which includes diesel,
then:
(a)
Applicant must have purchased the diesel and the diesel purchased
must qualify as an ‘eligible purchase’.
(b)
Applicant or the contractor must use the diesel for the user’s
own primary production activities.
[10]
An applicant for diesel refund must provide the necessary documents
to substantiate its claim for diesel.
Only then can the Commissioner
make a determination. For present purpose, the following provisions
apply:
(i)
An applicant must show, in respect of each claim, how the quantity of
diesel purchased and used on which the refund is claimed,
was
calculated.
(ii)
If applicant carried on business in more than one…
(iii)
Applicant must show how the diesel was used, sold or otherwise
disposed of.
(iv)
Applicant must keep records of all purchases or receipts of diesel,
storage and use of diesel, reflecting the date or period
of use, the
quantity and purpose of use, the full particulars of any diesel
supplied on a dry basis to any contractor or other
person who renders
qualifying services to the applicant and the capacity of each tank in
which fuel is stored and the receipt and
removal from such tanks.
(v)
Applicant must provide logbooks in respect of diesel supplied to each
vehicle and or equipment used and specify how the vehicles
and
equipment was used for each trip travelled or for each hour used,
including a full audit trail.
[11]
Section 75 (14) provides in peremptory language that SARS is
prohibited from paying any refund under the
provisions of Section 75
unless it receives an application within a specified period, duly
completed and supported by the necessary
documents.
[12]
To the extent that an applicant cannot provide SARS with the required
record of proof for the refund, or
that the claim relates to
activities which are not own primary production activities of
applicant, the Commissioner cannot allow
a refund and any provisional
refund allowed must be recovered by SARS.
APPLICANT’S
CASE
[13]
In prayers 4 to 4.3 of the notice of motion, the applicant seeks a
declarator to the effect that no additional
assessment has been
issued by the respondents in respect of the alleged indebtedness of
the applicant, and that no amount is therefore
payable by the
applicant to SARS. Consequential relief is sought in prayer 5 of the
notice of motion, to the effect that the amounts
previously
irregularly collected by SARS be repaid to the applicant.
[14]
At the time of preparing the applicant’s heads of argument, it
was anticipated that the aforesaid declaratory
relief would be
determined by the outcome of the tariff appeal (i.e., the main relief
sought in prayers 1 and 2 of the notice of
motion).
[15]
The declaratory relief however remains to be adjudicated by this
Court, because of the prolonged failure
by SARS to issue an
assessment herein: SARS can no longer issue an assessment, because
SARS is precluded in terms of s 99(1)(b)(i)
of the TAA from issuing
an assessment after the lapse of 5 years after the date of the
original self-assessment (i.e., the date
upon which the applicant
submitted its value-added tax return to SARS).
Administration
of diesel refunds under the VAT Act / payability of refund to SARS
[16]
Section 75(1C)(e) of the Customs and Excise Act
[2]
provides that an amount for which a person is liable under the
section, shall be “paid ... upon demand”. However, as
demonstrated herein below, it is submitted that such “demand”
can only be validly made by SARS where an assessment
has been issued.
Diesel refund claims (specifically) are administered under the
Value-Added Tax Act
[3]
, and
[4]
a “user” for purposes of diesel refund claims is required
to register for purposes of VAT under the VAT Act.
[5]
A diesel refund claim is made by submitting a VAT 201 return to
SARS.
[6]
[17]
In terms of s 91(2) of the TAA,
[7]
if a tax Act requires a taxpayer to submit a return which
incorporates a determination of the amount of a tax liability (or a
refund), the submission of the return is an original self-assessment
of the tax liability. The term “assessment” is
defined in
s 1 of the TAA to mean the determination of the amount of a tax
liability or refund, by way of self-assessment by the
taxpayer or an
assessment by SARS. The return in terms whereof a user claims a
diesel refund under the VAT Act for purposes of
s 75 of the C&E
Act, is therefore an original self-assessment by the user. Where SARS
is satisfied that an assessment does
not reflect the correct
application of a tax Act to the prejudice of SARS or the fiscus, SARS
must make an additional assessment
to correct the prejudice.
[8]
However, SARS may not make an assessment after 5 years after the date
of the original self-assessment (i.e., the date of the user’s
VAT 201 return claiming a diesel refund).
[9]
[18]
It is submitted that a user is only liable for an amount under
section 75, and that an amount can only be
“paid on demand”,
where a user and the amount has been assessed by SARS for purposes of
and under the VAT Act, read
with the
Tax Administration Act
[10
].
[11]
Put differently: only where an amount is payable under the VAT Act
read with the TAA in terms of a duly issued additional assessment,
can an amount be validly demanded as contemplated in s 75 of the C&E
Act and thereafter recovered by SARS.
No
assessment issued to the applicant
[19]
By the time that SARS issued an audit findings letter to the
applicant on 07 September 2016, the applicant
had submitted (and had
received) the diesel refunds for the relevant tax periods, 12/2013 to
06/2016.
[20]
The applicant has demonstrated that no additional assessment was
issued by SARS pursuant to issuing the audit
finalisation letter on
06 October 2016. In this regard: Neither the applicant nor his
accountants ever received an additional assessment.
No additional
assessment has been issued to the applicant by SARS’ system on
e- filing.
[21]
SARS’ auditor and deponent to the answering affidavit, Mr
Sangweni, did not (and manifestly unable
to) provide a copy of an
additional assessment to this Court, and instead attached a data form
printout to his answering affidavit,
suggesting that this should be
construed to be an additional assessment. This allegation stands to
be rejected:
[21.1]
The document purports to be a “print of assessment detail”,
not an additional assessment. The document
further states to the
reader “use these figures to complete the VAT217DP”. This
is not explained by Mr Sangweni in
his affidavit.
[21.2]
Section 96(1) of the TAA provides that notice of assessment must be
issued to the taxpayer, and that such assessment
must satisfy certain
requirements.
[21.3]
Nothing in the document confirms that an additional assessment has
been issued to the applicant. On Mr Sangweni’s
own version,
where an additional assessment has not been uploaded to the
applicant’s e-filing profile, no such assessment
exists.
[22]
The best evidence of the existence of a VAT additional assessment is
the assessment itself. Significantly,
SARS has failed to provide a
copy of the VAT additional assessment to this Court, or provided any
proof that same was issued to
the applicant. The ineluctable
conclusion is that such assessment (as defined in s 1 and compliant
with s 96 of the TAA) does not
exist.
[23]
In the premises, it is respectfully submitted that:
[23.1]
SARS may only demand payment of a diesel refund amount in terms of s
75(1C)(e) of the C&E Act, where such amount
is duly payable in
terms of an additional assessment issued under the VAT Act, read with
the TAA.
[23.2]
It is undisputed that SARS has not issued an additional assessment
reflecting an amount payable by the applicant to
SARS.
[23.3]
The period of 5 years after the date of the original assessment have
expired by September 2021, and SARS is no longer
entitled to issue an
additional assessment under s 99(1)(b)(i) of the TAA.
[23.4]
No amount is payable by the applicant to SARS, regardless of the
outcome of the tariff appeal.
[24]
In the premises, the declaratory relief sought in prayers 4 to 4.3 of
the notice of motion, as well as the
consequential relief in prayer 5
thereof, stands to be granted with costs, such costs to include the
costs of two counsel.
RESPONDENTS
CASE
[25]
In prayers 1 and 2 of the notice of motion, the applicant seeks
orders setting aside the Commissioner’s
decision to disallow
certain refunds claimed by the applicant for fuel levy (“diesel
refunds”) in terms of section
75 (1A) of the Customs Act during
the period 12/2013 to 6/2016 (“tax periods”).
[26]
The applicant’s supplementary heads of argument pertain to
prayer 4 of the notice of motion in which
he seeks an order declaring
that, because SARS failed to issue notices of assessment following
the letter of finalisation of audit
of 6 October 2016, the diesel
refunds demanded therein were not due and payable, and the collection
steps undertaken by SARS –
at the time – in terms of the
third party procedure under section 179 of the Tax Administration Act
28 of 2011 (“TAA”)
were null and void, and must be set
aside.
[27]
At the commencement of argument, it was submitted on behalf of the
applicant that the issues in prayer 4
were raised in
limine
such that in the event the court is with the applicant, all the
disputes between the parties will be disposed of.
[28]
We submit not. The relief in prayer 4 is only competent, let alone as
a preliminary point, if it is sought
an ancillary to the main appeal
relief in prayers 1 and 2 of the notice of motion, as correctly
characterised in paragraph 10 of
the applicant’s founding
affidavit.
[29]
In other words, if the applicant is liable for the disallowed diesel
refunds, which we submit he is, and
payment was due and payable,
under the Customs Act, it is the end of the debate, the remainder of
the prayers must be dismissed.
Applicant
is liable and the tax debt was due and payable
[30]
In terms of section 75(1A)(e) of the Customs Act, any payment by the
Commissioner of claimed refunds shall
be deemed to be a provisional
refund subject to the production of proof that the diesel was
purchased and used in accordance with
the provisions of this section
and item of Schedule 6 thereto.
[31]
In terms of section 75(1C)(e)(i) if, after an audit of the user’s
books and records, the amount of
the provisional refund paid to the
user concerned was not duly refundable or exceeds the amount
refundable, any such amount or
the excess shall be paid by the user
on demand to the Commissioner.
[32]
The letter of finalisation of audit of 6 October 2016 follows an
audit in terms of section 75(1C)(e)(i).
It communicated the
disallowance of the diesel refunds over the contended tax periods to
the applicant and constitutes the Commissioner’s
(SARS) demand
for payment. Therefore, the applicant was liable as at 6 October 2016
and the disallowed diesel refunds were due
and payable upon such
demand.
[33]
The applicant does not dispute that in terms of the Customs Act, an
amount for disallowed diesel refunds
is payable to the Commissioner
(SARS) on demand.
[34]
The applicant however argued that a user is only liable for the
amount under section 75, and that such amount
can only be paid on
demand, where the amount has thereafter been assessed by SARS under
the VAT Act and the TAA and thus payable
in respect thereof.
[35]
There is no merit to this argument:
[35.1]
First, the decision to disallow the applicant’s diesel refunds
in the letter of finalisation of audit of 6 October
2016 constitutes
a determination as contemplated in terms of section 47(9)(a))i)(bb)
of the Customs Act.
[35.2]
Second, in terms of section 47(9)(b)(i), whenever a determination is
made under section 47(9)(a) above, the amount
due in terms thereof
shall remain payable even if there are court proceedings instituted
to challenge the determination. Provided
that the Commissioner may on
good cause shown, suspend such payment until the date of any final
judgment by the High Court or a
judgment by the Supreme Court of
Appeal.
[35.3]
Third, neither the VAT Act, nor the TAA, contain a provision that an
amount of disallowed diesel refunds can only be
paid on demand where
such amount has been assessed by SARS under the TAA or VAT Act, and
thus payable in terms thereof.
Diesel
refunds, TAA and VAT Act
[36]
The diesel refund scheme is administered through the VAT system and
refunds are only payable when the user
fully comprise with the
provisions of section 75(IA) of the Customs Act.
[37]
Section 75(1A)(d) provides that the Commissioner may:
“
(i) pay any
such refund upon receipt of a duly completed return from any person
who has purchased distillate fuel for use as contemplated
in the said
item of Schedule No. 6;
(ii) pay any such
refund by means of the system in operation for refunding value-added
tax; and
(iii) for the purposes
of payment, set off any amount refundable to any person in terms of
the provisions of this section and the
said items against any amount
of value-added tax payable by such person.”
Assessments
were issued
[38]
A search on SARS electronic filing system (“SARS e-Filing”),
on which the applicant is registered,
reflects that assessments were
in fact issued to the applicant on 29 November 2016 for various
amounts in respect of the disallowed
diesel refunds with the second
date of expiry at 30 December 2016. The assessments, which were
printed from the SARS e-Filing profile
of the applicant are attached
to SARS’s answering affidavit as “SARS-9.1” to
“SARS-9.16”.
[39]
In
MTN
International v CSARS
,
[12]
the
Supreme Court of Appeal stated the following: “
[9]
It is common cause in this case that: (a) on 31 March 2011 SARS
assessed MTN to additional tax; (b) that assessment was made
within
the prescriptive period allowed by the Act; and (c) the assessment
was notified to MTN on that day. An ‘assessment’
is
defined in s 1 of the Act as:
‘.
. . the determination by the Commissioner, by way of a notice of
assessment (including a notice of assessment in
electronic form)
served in a manner contemplated in section 106 (2)—
(
a
)
of an amount upon which any tax leviable under this Act is
chargeable; or
(
b
)
of the amount of any such tax; or
(
c
)
of any loss ranking for set-off; or
(
d
)
of any assessed capital loss determined in terms of paragraph 9 of
the Eighth Schedule . . . .’
“
[9]
[…] An assessment, so First South African Holdings (Pty)
Ltd v Commissioner for South African Revenue Service
73
SATC 221
para
15 held, is a determination by SARS of one or more matters. What is
required is at least a purposeful act – one whereby
the
document embodying the mental act is intended to be an assessment
(Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v South
African
Custodial Services (Pty) Ltd
2012
(1) SA 522
(SCA)
para 29).
[10]
As is apparent from the definition of ‘assessment’ it is
not a requirement that in order for a notification of
a determination
by SARS to be a valid assessment, it should be dated. Much less that
a valid ‘due date’ should be fixed.
On the contrary the
legislature in s 1 of the Act defined ‘date of assessment’
to mean ‘. . . the date specified
in the notice of such
assessment as the due date or, where a due date is not so specified,
the date of such notice’. It follows
that where no ‘due
date’ (to be read ‘lawful or valid’ due date) is
specified (S v Mapheele
1963
(2) SA 651
(A)
at 655D-E), it cannot be said that the assessment is a nullity.”
[40]
In conclusion, the respondents persists in their request that the
entire application should be dismissed
and the determination of 6
October 2016 be confirmed, with costs including costs of a counsel
who is a senior on scale C.
ANALYSIS
[41]
To qualify for a refund the “
user
” of the diesel
has to satisfy the requirements set out in rebate item 670.04
included in Part 3 of Schedule 6 of the Act
(the rebate item). This
item determines under which circumstances users who purchased diesel
may become “
eligible
” for consideration of
refunds. It is common cause that the applicant in the
application seeks an order setting aside
SARS's decision to disallow
certain fuel levy refunds previously claimed by the applicant in
respect of diesel allegedly used by
him in terms of section
75(1)(A) of the
Customs and Excise Act.
The
main issue in dispute between the parties in the application is
whether the applicant was entitled to the diesel claims he made
during the period under review.
[42]
In order to qualify for the diesel refund claims, the applicant ought
to satisfy the commissioner that: (i)
he himself purchased the
diesel; (ii) he used the diesel for qualifying activities; and (iii)
he kept sufficient records showing
that the diesel dispensed and
claimed for, was in fact used for qualifying activities.
[43]
The applicant is a sole proprietor and a registered user for farming
and forestry activities in terms of
the
Customs and Excise
Act.
The dispute in the application follows an audit
undertaken by SARS on the applicant's activities. Counsel for SARS
submits that
SARS has demonstrated in its answering affidavit,
inter
alia,
that (i) the applicant did not purchase the diesel in
respect of which refunds were claimed; (ii) the diesel was purchased
by Bonnie
Brooks, who is not the User and VAT vendor for the purpose
of the
Customs and Excise Act;
(iii) the applicant
kept one logbook to register diesel usage in respect of the
activities of both the applicant and Bonnie Brooks;
(iv) the
documents attached to the founding affidavit as proof of keeping a
proper logbook are not the same as those made available
to SARS for
the audit.
[44]
Counsel for SARS further submits that the case is important to SARS
in that policy issue raised in the answering
affidavit need to be
fully adjudicated in order to ensure that the current regime of
diesel refunds introduced in 2000 is effective.
The current diesel
refund regime was introduced specifically to curb the abuses that
were prevalent in the previous scheme. This
included the linking of
the claims for diesel refund to the administration of the VAT system
and to limit the entitlement to claim
the refund to the primary
producer (user), in order to make such a producer more
internationally competitive by reducing its input
costs through the
grant of the refund. It is contended therefore that the application
is an important case for the court to determine
whether diesel
refunds in respect of diesel purchases made by another entity and
used by the user may be allowed.
CONCLUSION
[45]
In determining this matter, I must be guided by the well-established
principles referred to above applicable
to applications of the this
nature. In this regard, I need to draw certain inferences and weigh
probabilities as they emerge from
the parties’ respective
submissions, affidavits, heads of argument and oral submissions by
parties’ counsel.
[46]
In considering
the matter, and taking into account all the additional facts,
circumstances
together
with submissions and authorities referred to by counsel,
I
am of the considered view that the applicant has not made out a case
for the relief he seeks. The applicant has not
satisfied
the requirements set out in rebate item 670.04 included in Part 3 of
Schedule 6 of the Act (the rebate item). This item
determines under
which circumstances users who purchased diesel may become “
eligible
”
for consideration of refunds.
It
is therefore reasonable and fair that I should not grant the
applicant’s application.
The
Commissioner’s determination therefore stands. T
he
entire application should be dismissed and the determination of 6
October 2016 be confirmed, with costs including the costs of
a
counsel on scale C.
COSTS
[47]
The rule that costs should follow the event is still applicable in
these circumstances. The applicant has
not shown any good reason why
this rule should not be applied.
[48]
I have considered both parties’ argument relating to the costs
of this application. I am accordingly
inclined to grant costs in
respondents’ favour. The applicant is ordered to pay the costs
of the application, including the
costs of a counsel on scale C.
ORDER
[49]
In the circumstances, I make the following order:
[49.1]
The entire application is dismissed and the respondents’
determination is hereby confirmed.
[49.2]
The applicant is ordered to pay the costs of the application,
including the costs of a counsel on scale C.
T
E JOYINI
ACTING
JUDGE OF THE HIGH COURT, PRETORIA
APPEARANCES:
For
the applicant
:
Adv
PA Swanepoel SC and Adv CA Boonzaaier
Instructed
by
:
PWG
Attorneys C/O Malan & Nortje
Email:
nortje@netactive.co.za
For
the respondent
:
Adv
MPD Chabedi SC
Instructed
by
:
Ledwaba
Mazwai Attorneys
Email:
mlm@ledwabamazwai.co.za
/
Dates
of Hearing:
23
and 24 January 2025
Date
of Judgment:
13
February 2025
This
Judgment has been delivered by uploading it to the Court online
digital data base of the Gauteng Division, Pretoria and by
e-mail to
the Attorneys of record of the parties. The deemed date and time for
the delivery is 13 February 2025 at 10h00.
[1]
Umbhaba
Estates (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue
Services (66454/2017) [2021] ZAGPPHC (10 June 2021)
para. [76] to
[85] as referred to in Mbali Coal (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner for
the South African Revenue Services (81950/2019)
[2023] ZAGPPHC1792
(5 October 2023).
[2]
Act 91 of 1964 (as amended) (“the C&E Act”).
[3]
Act
89 of 1991 (as amended) (“the VAT Act”).
[4]
See
s 75(1A)(b), (d), and (f) of the C&E Act.
[5]
Section
75(1A)(b)(ii) of the C&E Act.
[6]
Section
75(1A)(d) and s 75(4A)(b) of the C&E Act.
[7]
As
it read at the time, prior to a recent amendment in 2024.
[8]
See s 92 of the TAA, and see s 31(4) of the VAT Act.
[9]
Section
99(1)(b)(i) of the TAA.
[10]
Act
28 of 2011 (as amended) (“the TAA”).
[11]
Section
4(2) of the VAT Act: “Administrative requirements and
procedures for purposes of the performance of any duty, power
or
obligation or the exercise of any right in terms of this Act are, to
the extent not regulated in this Act, regulated by the
Tax
Administration Act&rdquo
;. See
s 4
of the TAA.
[12]
[2014]
ZASCA 8
(14
March 2014) (275/2013).
sino noindex
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