| (a) | that supply has been cancelled; or |
| (b) | the nature of that supply has been fundamentally varied or altered; or |
| (c) | the previously agreed consideration for that supply has been altered by agreement with the recipient, whether due to the offer of a discount or for any other reason; or |
| (d) | the goods or services or part of the goods or services supplied have been returned to the supplier, including the return to— |
| (i) | a vendor of a returnable container, the vendor in such case being deemed for the purposes of this Act to have made the supply of the container in respect of which the deposit was charged, whether the supply was made by him or any other person; or |
| (ii) | a vendor, where a supply of an enterprise as a going concern, contemplated in section 11(1)(e) of this Act, was made to that vendor, the vendor in such case being deemed for purposes of this Act to have made the supply of the goods or services to the recipient, whether the supply was made by him or the other vendor that made the supply of that enterprise as a going concern; or |
[Section 21(1)(d) substituted by section 8 of Notice No. 16, GG 42169, dated 17 January 2019 (Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2018 (Act No. 22 of 2018)]
| (e) | an error has occurred in stipulating the amount of consideration agreed upon for that supply; or |
| (f) | prepaid vouchers contemplated in section 10(19) have been issued by any registered vendor that is an ‘electronic communications service licensee’ as defined in section 1 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005), and the nature of the supply specified on such voucher has been fundamentally varied or altered, |
[Section 21(1)(f) inserted by section 51(1)(b) of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2023 (Act No. 17 of 2023), Notice No. 4226, GG49894, dated 22 December 2023 - comes into operation on 1 April 2024 (section 51(2))]
and the supplier has—
| (i) | provided a tax invoice in relation to that supply and the amount shown therein as tax charged on that supply is incorrect in relation to the amount properly chargeable on that supply as a result of the occurrence of any one or more of the above-mentioned events; or |
| (ii) | furnished a return in relation to the tax period in respect of which output tax on that supply is attributable, and has accounted for an incorrect amount of output tax on that supply in relation to the amount properly chargeable on that supply as a result of the occurrence of any one or more of the abovementioned events. |
| (2) | Where a supplier has accounted for an incorrect amount of output tax as contemplated in subsection (1), that supplier shall make an adjustment in calculating the tax payable by the supplier in the return for the tax period during which it has become apparent that the output tax is incorrect, and if— |
| (a) | the output tax properly chargeable in relation to that supply exceeds the output tax actually accounted for by the supplier, the amount of that excess shall be deemed to be tax charged by that supplier in relation to a taxable supply attributable to the tax period in which the adjustment is to be made, and shall not be attributable to any prior tax period; or |
| (b) | the output tax actually accounted for exceeds the output tax properly charge able in relation to that supply, that supplier shall either make a deduction in terms of section 16(3) in respect of the amount of that excess (such amount being deemed for the purposes of that section to be input tax), or reduce the amount of output tax attributable to the said tax period in terms of section 16(4) by the amount of that excess: Provided that the said deduction shall not be made where the excess tax has been borne by a recipient of goods or services supplied by the supplier and the recipient is not a vendor, unless the amount of the excess tax has been repaid by the supplier to the recipient, whether in cash or by way of a credit against any amount owing to the supplier by the recipient. |
| (3) | Subject to this section, where a tax invoice has been provided as contemplated in subsection (1)(i), and— |
| (a) | the amount shown as tax charged in that tax invoice exceeds the actual tax charged in respect of the supply concerned, the supplier shall provide the recipient with a credit note, containing the following particulars: |
| (i) | The words "credit note"; |
[Sectioni 21(3)(a)(i) substituted by section 27(a) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2015 (Act No. 23 of 2015)]
| (iii) | the name, address and, where the recipient is a registered vendor, the VAT registration number of the recipient, except where the credit note relates to a supply in respect of which a tax invoice contemplated in section 20(5) was issued; |
| (iv) | the date on which the credit note was issued; |
| (aa) | the amount by which the value of the said supply shown on the tax invoice has been reduced and the amount of the excess tax; or |
| (bb) | where the tax charged in respect of the supply is calculated by applying the tax fraction to the consideration, the amount by which the consideration has been reduced and either the amount of the excess tax or a statement that the reduction includes an amount of tax and the rate of the tax included; |
| (v) | a brief explanation of the circumstances giving rise to the issuing of the credit note; |
| (vi) | information sufficient to identify the transaction to which the credit note refers; |
| (b) | the actual tax charged in respect of the supply concerned exceeds the tax shown in the tax invoice as charged, the supplier shall provide the recipient with a debit note, containing the following particulars: |
| (i) | The words "debit note"; |
[Section 21(3)(b)(i) substituted by section 27(b) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2015 (Act No. 23 of 2015)]
| (ii) | the name, address and VAT registration number of the vendor; |
| (iii) | the name, address and, where the recipient is a registered vendor, the VAT registration number of the recipient, except where the debit note relates to a supply of goods in respect of which a tax invoice contemplated in section 20(5) was issued; |
| (iv) | the date on which the debit note was issued; |
| (aa) | the amount by which the value of the said supply shown on the tax invoice has been increased and the amount of the additional tax; or |
| (bb) | where the tax charged in respect of the supply is calculated by applying the tax fraction to the consideration, the amount by which the consideration has been increased and either the amount of the additional tax or a statement that the increase includes an amount of tax and the rate of the tax included; |
| (vi) | a brief explanation of the circumstances giving rise to the issuing of the debit note; |
| (vii) | information sufficient to identify the transaction to which the debit nets refers: |
Provided that—
| (A) | it shall not be lawful to issue more than one credit note or debit note for the amount of the excess; |
| (B) | if any registered vendor claims to have lost the original credit note or debit note, the supplier or recipient, as the case may be, may provide a copy clearly marked "copy"; |
| (C) | a supplier shall not be required to provide a recipient with a credit note contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection in any case where and to the extent that the amount of the excess referred to in that paragraph arises as a result of the recipient taking up a prompt payment discount offered by the supplier, if the terms of the prompt payment discount offer are clearly stated on the face of the tax invoice. |
| (4) | Where a recipient, being a registered vendor, creates a document containing the particulars specified in this section and purporting to be a credit note or a debit note in respect of a supply of goods or services made to the recipient by a supplier, being a registered vendor, the document shall be deemed to be a credit note or, as the case may be, a debit note provided by the supplier under subsection (3) where— |
| (a) | the Commissioner has granted prior approval for the issue of such documents by a recipient or recipients of a specified class in relation to the supplies or supplies of a specified category to which the documents relate; and |
| (b) | the supplier and the recipient agree that the supplier shall not issue a credit note or, as the case may be, a debit note in respect of any supply to which this subsection applies; and |
| (c) | a copy of any such document is provided to the supplier and another copy is retained by the recipient: |
Provided that—
| (i) | where a credit note is issued in accordance with this subsection, any credit note issued by the supplier in respect of that supply shall be deemed not to be a credit note for the purposes of this Act; |
| (ii) | where a debit note is issued in accordance with this subsection, any debit note issued by the supplier in respect of that supply shall be deemed not to be a debit note for the purposes of this Act. |
| (5) | Where the Commissioner is satisfied that there are or will be sufficient records available to establish the particulars of any supply or category of supplies and that it would be impractical to require that a full credit note or debit note be issued in terms of this section, the Commissioner may, subject to any conditions that the Commissioner may consider necessary, direct— |
| (a) | that any one or more of the particulars specified in paragraph (a) or, as the case may be, paragraph (b) of subsection (3) shall not be contained in a credit note or, as the case may be, a debit note; or |
| (b) | that a credit note or, as the case may be, a debit note is not required to be issued. |
| (6) | Where any recipient, being a registered vendor, has been issued with a credit note in terms of subsection (3)(a), or has written or other notice or otherwise knows that any tax invoice which the vendor holds is incorrect as a result of any one or more of the events specified in any of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (1) and has made a deduction of any amount of input tax in any tax period in respect of the supply of goods or services to which the credit note or that notice or other knowledge, as the case may be, relates, either the amount of the excess referred to in subsection (3)(a) shall be deemed to be tax charged in relation to a taxable supply made by the recipient attributable to the tax period in which the credit note was issued, or that notice or, as the case may be, other knowledge was received, or the amount of input tax deducted in terms of section 16(3) in the last-mentioned tax period shall be reduced by the amount of the said excess, to the extent that the input tax deducted in the first-mentioned tax period exceeds the output tax properly charged. |
[Section 21(6) deleted by section 134(1)(a) of the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2015 (Act No. 25 of 2015)]
| (7) | Where any recipient, being a registered vendor, has been issued with a debit note in terms of subsection (3)(b) and has made a deduction of any amount of input tax in any tax period in respect of the supply of goods or services to which that debit note relates, the recipient may, subject to the provisions of section 17, make a deduction of input tax in terms of section 16(3) in respect of the amount of the excess referred to in subsection (3)(b) in the tax period in which the debit note is issued, to the extent that the output tax properly charged exceeds the input tax deducted. |
| (8) | Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in subsection (3), where a vendor acquires an enterprise from another vendor and as a result of that acquisition, the supplying vendor immediately ceases to be a vendor, and the purchasing vendor, within a period of six months from the date of acquisition, issues or receives a credit note or debit note, as the case may be, in respect of the acquired enterprise, that credit note or debit note may reflect the name, address and VAT registration number of the supplying vendor. |
