Strategic Tax Risk Management for South African Farmers

Tax risk management is becoming increasingly important, due to the current heightened awareness of corporate governance. International surveys have shown that 80% of tax risks are not under the control of taxation departments, and that these risks go beyond normal compliance issues. Effective tax risk management strategies which identify both the risks and mitigating controls have been identified by other authors. However, little attention has been paid to formulating effective tax risk management strategies that are tailored to the specified needs of individual industries. The aim of this study is to determine an effective tax risk management strategy for South African farmers, by drawing on the information obtained from the review of available literature, tax legislation and case law. The proposed strategy is then used as criteria for evaluating the tax risk strategy of a leader in the farming industry in South Africa, in order to highlight possible weaknesses of existing strategies in this field. This analysis could be helpful for farmers or professionals in control of the financial affairs of farming industries, in compiling an effective tax risk management strategy.