South Africa Tax Agency Seeks Comments on VAT Treatment of Debt Collection Activities

The South African Revenue Service Sept. 9 opened a consultation on a draft interpretation note concerning the VAT treatment of the debt collection costs and commissions of creditors, and of in-house or outsourced debt collectors. Topics covered include: 1) relevant definitions and legislative provisions; 2) whether the debt collection costs and commissions under an outsourced service level agreement constitute consideration under the VAT Act for the supply of debt collection services; 3) the application of a 15 percent VAT rate to commissions paid for the supply of debt collection services, and to amounts recovered and retained by the collector; 4) ...