When it comes to paying tax, everyone is interested, even those who don’t earn a lot of money. So I pounced on M vs Commissioner for the SA Revenue Service, the first case from the tax court that I have seen this year. This is clearly no James Bond story, but there is a shock for M in the May 30 judgment. It deals with M’s crucial question. After signing 25 property deals in the 2013 tax year, M wanted to know if the commissioner was correct to say that all the proceeds were taxable that year, rather than in 2014, when the properties were paid for. Most people would think you are liable for tax on money you earn in the same year as you are paid it. In M’s case the intuitive answer would be that if the money is paid to you in the 2014 tax year, then that is the year in which you must pay the tax due. But it turns out that you would be wrong. It all hinges on when the money on which you must pay tax actually "accrued" to you. According to M, the amounts "accrued" only when M became en...
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