Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No. 58 of 1962)Chapter II : The TaxesPart I : Normal Tax20C. Ring-fencing of interest incurred by headquarter companies |
(1) For the purposes of this section—
"financial assistance"
means financial assistance contemplated in section 31(1).
"royalty"
means any amount that is, before taking into account section 49D(c), subject to the withholding tax on royalties in terms of Part IVA.
[Definition substituted by section 36 of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2015 (Act No. 25 of 2015)]
| (2) | Where a headquarter company has during any year of assessment incurred any interest in respect of any financial assistance granted to that headquarter company by a person— |
| (a) | that is not a resident; and |
| (b) | if that person is a company, that directly or indirectly (and whether alone or together with any other company forming part of the same group of companies as that person) holds at least 10 per cent of the equity shares and voting rights in that headquarter company, |
the amount of that interest in respect of which a deduction is allowable to that headquarter company in that year of assessment is limited to so much of the amount of interest received by or accrued to the headquarter company as relates to any portion of that financial assistance that is directly applied as financial assistance to any foreign company in which the headquarter company directly or indirectly (whether alone or together with any other company forming part of the same group of companies as that headquarter company) holds at least 10 per cent of the equity shares and voting rights.
| (2A) | Where a headquarter company has during any year of assessment incurred any amount that constitutes a royalty payable to a person— |
| (a) | that is not a resident; and |
| (b) | if that person is a company, that directly or indirectly (and whether alone or together with any other company forming part of the same group of companies as that person) holds at least 10 per cent of the equity shares and voting rights in that headquarter company, |
the amount of that royalty in respect of which a deduction is allowable to that headquarter company in that year of assessment is limited to so much of any amounts received by or accrued to the headquarter company in respect of—
| (i) | the use or right of use of or permission to use any intellectual property as defined in section 23I; or |
| (ii) | the imparting of or the undertaking to impart any scientific, technical, industrial or commercial knowledge or information, or the rendering of or the undertaking to render, any assistance or service in connection with the application or utilisation of such knowledge or information, |
from any foreign company in which the headquarter company directly or indirectly (whether alone or together with any other company forming part of the same group of companies as that headquarter company) holds at least 10 per cent of the equity shares and voting rights.
| (3) | Any amount that is disallowed as a deduction in any year of assessment of a headquarter company in terms of subsection (2) or (2A) must— |
| (a) | carried forward to the immediately succeeding year of assessment of the headquarter company; and |
| (b) | where that amount is disallowed as a deduction— |
| (i) | in terms of subsection (2), be deemed to be an amount of interest actually incurred by the headquarter company during that succeeding year in respect of financial assistance granted to that headquarter company by a person that is not a resident; or |
| (ii) | in terms of subsection (2A), be deemed to be an amount actually incurred by the headquarter company during that succeeding year that constitutes a royalty payable to a person that is not a resident. |
[Section 20C substituted by section 39(1) of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2012 (Act No. 22 of 2012) - effective 1 January 2013]