VAT Treatment of 'Imported Services'

Section 11(2)(k) of the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 provides for the zero-rating of a supply of services where the services are physically rendered outside the Republic. In this monograph, the author analyses that provision and other relevant sections of the VAT Act, with a view to determining whether it is possible to zero-rate 'imported services' falling within the ambit of section 7(1)(c) of the Act where work is performed outside the Republic but the product of that work (for example a computer program) is supplied to a South African consumer for use within the Republic otherwise than in the making of taxable supplies. The meaning of the word 'rendered' in section 11(2)(k) is determined in the light of the governing rules of statutory interpretation, after which the controversial decisions in ITC 1812 and Metropolitan Life Ltd v Commissioner for South African Revenue Service are subjected to detailed and penetrating analysis in order to assess whether section 11(2) as a whole can, contrary to those decisions, apply to 'imported services'.