Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No. 58 of 1962) > Chapter II : The Taxes > Part I : Normal Tax > 13sex. Deduction in respect of certain residential units

(1)	Subject to section 36, there must be allowed to be deducted from the income of a taxpayer an allowance equal to five per cent of the cost to the taxpayer of any new and unused residential unit (or of any new and unused improvement to a residential unit) owned by the taxpayer if—

(a)	that unit or improvement is used by the taxpayer solely for the purposes of a trade carried on by the taxpayer;

(b)	that unit is situated within the Republic; and

(c)	the taxpayer owns at least five residential units within the Republic, which are used by the taxpayer for the purposes of a trade carried on by the taxpayer:

Provided that if a taxpayer completes an improvement as contemplated in section 12N, the expenditure incurred by the taxpayer to complete the improvement shall be deemed to be the cost to the taxpayer of any new and unused residential unit (or of any new and unused improvement to a residential unit), for the purposes of this section.

[Proviso to section 13sex(1) inserted by section 35(1) of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2010 (Act No. 7 of 2010)]

(2)

There shall be allowed to be deducted from the income of the taxpayer an additional allowance of five per cent of the cost of a low-cost residential unit of a taxpayer for a year of assessment if deductions are allowable to that taxpayer in respect of that unit in terms of subsection (1) during that year of assessment.

(3)

For the purposes of this section, the cost to the taxpayer of a residential unit (or an improvement thereto) shall be deemed to be the lesser of the actual cost to the taxpayer or the cost which a person would, if that person had acquired or improved the residential unit under a cash transaction concluded at arm’s length on the date on which the transaction for the acquisition of the new and unused residential unit (or of the new and unused improvement to the residential unit) was in fact concluded, have incurred in respect of the direct cost of the acquisition or erection of the residential unit or improvement.

(4)

Where any residential unit (or an improvement to the residential unit) in respect of which any deduction is claimed in terms of this section was during any year of assessment used by the taxpayer for the purpose of any trade carried on by that taxpayer, the receipt and accruals of which were not included in the income of that taxpayer during that year, any deduction which could have been allowed in terms of this section during that year or any subsequent year in which that residential unit (or an improvement to the residential unit) was used by the taxpayer shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been allowed during that previous year or those years as if the receipts and accruals of that trade had been included in the income of that taxpayer.

(5)	No deduction shall be allowed under this section in respect of the cost of any residential unit (or an improvement to a residential unit) that has been disposed of by the taxpayer during any previous year of assessment.

(6)

No deduction shall be allowed under this section in respect of the cost of a residential unit (or an improvement to a residential unit) if any of the cost has qualified or will qualify for deduction from the taxpayer’s income as a deduction of expenditure or an allowance in respect of expenditure under any other section of this Act.

(7)	The deductions which may be allowed or deemed to have been allowed in terms of this section and any other provision of this Act in respect of the cost of any residential unit (or any improvement to a residential unit) shall not in the aggregate exceed the amount of such cost.

(8)	For the purposes of this section, to the extent that the taxpayer acquires a residential unit (or improvement to a residential unit) representing only a part of a building without erecting or constructing that unit or improvement—

(a)	55 per cent of the acquisition price, in the case of the unit being acquired; and

(b)	30 per cent of the acquisition price, in the case of the improvement being acquired,

is deemed to be the cost incurred by that taxpayer in respect of that unit or improvement, as the case may be.

[Section 13sex inserted by section 31(1) of the Revenue Laws Amendment Act, 2008 (Act No. 60 of 2008)]