An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, the question as to whether income derived by a taxpayer whilst pursuing illegal activities should be made subject to the Income Tax Act of Zimbabwe (hereinafter the Act), is a relatively uncharted area of the law. Compared to other jurisdictions like South Africa and the United States...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Midlands State University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11408/3959
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905273920487424
author Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi
author_facet Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi
author_sort Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi
collection DSpace
description In Zimbabwe, the question as to whether income derived by a taxpayer whilst pursuing illegal activities should be made subject to the Income Tax Act of Zimbabwe (hereinafter the Act), is a relatively uncharted area of the law. Compared to other jurisdictions like South Africa and the United States of America (hereinafter USA), which have been developing this area of the law through case law and scholarly writings, the subject has been dormant in Zimbabwe. This research will draw comparisons between the taxation regime relating to the taxation of income derived from illegal activities as it stands in Zimbabwe and that of South Africa and the USA. One is only taxed in terms of the gross income they have ‘received’ in any year of assessment, hence the problem arises, does one ‘receive’ income derived from illegal activities? In Zimbabwe, the prominent decision on whether or not income derived from illegal activities is to be taxed is Commissioner of Taxes v G (hereinafter COT v G). The crux of the Courts finding in this case was that, this form of income is not ‘received’ for purposes of the Act. The court pursued the objective approach to the taxation of income derived from illegal activities. The objective approach is when a court applies the literal rule of interpretation to the word ‘receive’. According to this approach a taxpayer ‘receives’ an amount if they have legal entitlement over it. Legal entitlement over an amount is absent if, upon such seeming receipt, a legal obligation to pay the amount over to another person immediately arises.
format Thesis
id ir-11408-3959
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Midlands State University
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-39592022-06-27T13:49:05Z An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi taxation of income illegal activities In Zimbabwe, the question as to whether income derived by a taxpayer whilst pursuing illegal activities should be made subject to the Income Tax Act of Zimbabwe (hereinafter the Act), is a relatively uncharted area of the law. Compared to other jurisdictions like South Africa and the United States of America (hereinafter USA), which have been developing this area of the law through case law and scholarly writings, the subject has been dormant in Zimbabwe. This research will draw comparisons between the taxation regime relating to the taxation of income derived from illegal activities as it stands in Zimbabwe and that of South Africa and the USA. One is only taxed in terms of the gross income they have ‘received’ in any year of assessment, hence the problem arises, does one ‘receive’ income derived from illegal activities? In Zimbabwe, the prominent decision on whether or not income derived from illegal activities is to be taxed is Commissioner of Taxes v G (hereinafter COT v G). The crux of the Courts finding in this case was that, this form of income is not ‘received’ for purposes of the Act. The court pursued the objective approach to the taxation of income derived from illegal activities. The objective approach is when a court applies the literal rule of interpretation to the word ‘receive’. According to this approach a taxpayer ‘receives’ an amount if they have legal entitlement over it. Legal entitlement over an amount is absent if, upon such seeming receipt, a legal obligation to pay the amount over to another person immediately arises. 2020-12-07T07:55:31Z 2020-12-07T07:55:31Z 2018-06 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/11408/3959 en open Midlands State University
spellingShingle taxation of income
illegal activities
Nyathi, Conrad Clinton Melusi
An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title_full An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title_fullStr An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title_short An assessment of the taxation of Income derived from illegal activities in Zimbabwe
title_sort assessment of the taxation of income derived from illegal activities in zimbabwe
topic taxation of income
illegal activities
url http://hdl.handle.net/11408/3959
work_keys_str_mv AT nyathiconradclintonmelusi anassessmentofthetaxationofincomederivedfromillegalactivitiesinzimbabwe
AT nyathiconradclintonmelusi assessmentofthetaxationofincomederivedfromillegalactivitiesinzimbabwe