BDO South Africa hosted a seminar on taxes

On Tuesday, BDO South Africa hosted a seminar on taxes, which was attended by several businessmen. The guest of honour at the conference was former minister of Finance and president of International Financial Services (IFS), Dr Rama Sithanen, who spoke of investment opportunities and challenges that exist in Africa.

Several speakers such as Afsar Ebrahim, partner at BDO Mauritius, Kemp Munnik, head of tax at BDO SA, Roxanne Nyiri, international tax partner at BDO SA, Peter O’Halloran of BDO Botswana and Robert Bussulwa of BDO East Africa discussed investment possibilities.

The objective of the platform was to share specific information on treaties seeking to avoid double imposition of taxes in different countries in Africa and also how companies can judiciously benefit from such opportunities.

Sithanen, during his presentation, gave a global perspective on facilities to conduct business on the African continent. A chapter was also dedicated to Mauritius.

Local companies were represented by the chief executive officer (CEO) of Standard Bank, Lakshman Bheenick while Actis was represented by its local director, Kevin Teeroovengadum.

Roxanne Nyiri, the associate of international tax at BDO South Africa and responsible for the seminar, said that she is satisfied with the feedback from South African business people. “The firms have shown interest in discussing the different fiscal treaties existing in countries in the region. The offshore sector in Mauritius is an excellent platform for South African companies,” she said.

She added, “The Mauritian case was studied in relation to its fiscal legislation and the ease with which businesses can be conducted here.”

Presentations were made on different case studies such as the legislation on transfer pricing and controlled foreign companies.

The participants were also shown the way in which global fiscal plan can be established in different jurisdictions.