On June 1, 2017, the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) published a draft public notice requiring the submission of country-by-country (“CbC”) reports, a master file and a local file by groups with turnover above a specified threshold.
The draft public notice is to be issued under section 25 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011, which enables the Commissioner to require specified persons to submit returns as provided in the public notice.
A Reporting Entity (other than a Surrogate Parent Entity) resident in South Africa must submit a return in the form and containing the information specified in the BRS: CbC and Financial Data Reporting relating to the CbC Report, master file and the local file.
In accordance with the Draft Regulations, it is proposed that where the ultimate parent entity of an multinational enterprise is a South African tax resident and has a consolidated group turnover of more than R10 billion it must file a CbC report with SARS.
The CbC report must be filed submitted electronically using the SARS eFiling platform, no later than 12 months after the financial year end of the multinational group. The Draft Regulations are effective for financial year ends commencing on or after 1 January 2016 and accordingly, the first CbC reports should be filed with SARS from 31 December 2017.
Comments on the draft notice must be submitted on or before 22 June 2017.
