Section 24A (ITA) – Transactions whereby fixed property is or company shares are exchanged for shares

24A.    Transactions whereby fixed property is or company shares are exchanged for shares

 

(1)     If, under any transaction entered into before 1 October 2001 for the disposal by any person (hereinafter referred to as the trader) of any trading stock consisting of fixed property or any shares in any company, the consideration received by or accrued to the trader for such trading stock in effect consists of or includes

 

(a)     shares in a public company; or

 

(b)     company shares quoted by a recognized stock exchange at the time of such transaction or within six months thereafter; or

 

(c)     shares in any other company, if such shares are, under a scheme for the consolidation or merger of the interests of two or more persons, issued or transferred to the trader,

 

the value of the shares which constitute or are included in such consideration shall, if the trader and the Commissioner agree thereto, be excluded from the trader’s income for the year of assessment during which such consideration is received by or accrues to him.

 

(2)     For the purposes of this Act

 

(a)     the shares which constitute or are included in the said consideration and any capitalization shares issued in respect of such shares (which shares and capitalization shares are hereinafter referred to as new trading stock) shall be deemed to be trading stock of the trader; and

 

(b)     the cost price to the trader of the shares which constitute or are included in the said consideration shall be deemed to be the cost to him of the trading stock referred to in subsection (1) or, if such lastmentioned trading stock was held by him and had not been disposed of by him at the beginning of the year of assessment, the amount taken into account under section 22(2) as the value thereof, less an amount which bears to the said cost or the amount so taken into account, as the case may be, the same ratio as the value of such portion (if any) of the said consideration as does not consist of the said shares bears to the total value of the said consideration (including the said shares).

 

(3)     Any amount (including the value of any benefit or advantage) which is received by or accrues to the trader from the disposal of new trading stock (or a portion thereof) shall be included in the trader’s income, whether such amount is derived in carrying on any trade or otherwise or is derived from a source within or outside the Republic: Provided that the provisions of this subsection shall not be construed so as to prevent the provisions of subsection (1) being applied in respect of such amount.

 

(4)     If on or after the date of promulgation of the Income Tax Act, 1971, the trader disposes of or ceases to be the owner of new trading stock for any reason other than his death or insolvency or, in the case of a company, the windingup or liquidation thereof and no consideration accrues to him in respect of such new trading stock or a consideration accrues to him in respect of such new trading stock which in whole or part is not measurable in terms of money (the part of the consideration which is so measurable being less in value than the market value of such new trading stock at the date on which it was disposed of or on which the trader ceased to be the owner thereof), he shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have disposed of such new trading stock for a consideration equal to the market value thereof at the date on which it was disposed of or on which the trader ceased to be the owner thereof) or the market value thereof on the date of the transaction referred to in subsection (1), whichever value is the lower, reduced by the amount (if any) included in the trader’s income under subsection (3) in respect of the disposal, and such value, as so reduced, shall be included in his income: Provided that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not apply where the trader disposes of or ceases to be the owner of new trading stock by reason of the carrying out of any scheme referred to in section 22A and the trader is a transferor company as contemplated in that section.

 

(5)     Where the trader has until his death or the prior sequestration of his estate or, in the case of a company, the commencement of the windingup or liquidation thereof, continued to hold new trading stock, the trader shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have disposed of such new trading stock on the day preceding the date of his death or the sequestration of his estate (whichever first occurs) or, in the case of a company the date on which the windingup or liquidation thereof commenced, for a consideration equal to the market value on the said day of such new trading stock or the market value thereof on the date of the transaction referred to in subsection (1), whichever value is the lower, and such value shall be included in his income for the period of assessment within which the said day falls.

 

(6)     For the purposes of this section

 

(a)     “fixed property” means property as defined in section 1 of the Transfer Duty Act, 1949 (Act No. 40 of 1949); and

 

(b)     a company which has not yet been recognized under the provisions of this Act as a public company, may at the request of the taxpayer, be deemed to be a public company, if the Commissioner is satisfied that such company will be so recognized.