VAT on Cross-Border Digital Services in South Africa

South Africa introduced a special VAT regime during 2014 aimed at improving VAT compliance in respect of cross-border digital services rendered to South African customers. The various amendments, which have since been introduced to address some of the resultant administrative and compliance difficulties, often result in uncertainty as to the application of the VAT rules. In this article, the author provides an overview of the VAT regime for electronic services and analyses the VAT implications thereof.