13quin.     Deduction in respect of commercial buildings

 

(1)     There shall be allowed to be deducted from the income of the taxpayer an allowance equal to five per cent of the cost to the taxpayer of any new and unused building owned by the taxpayer, or any new and unused improvement to any building owned by the taxpayer, if that building or improvement is wholly or mainly used by the taxpayer during the year of assessment for purposes of producing income in the course of the taxpayer’s trade, other than the provision of residential accommodation.

  

(1A)  For the purposes of this section, if a taxpayer completes an improvement as contemplated in section 12N, the expenditure incurred by the taxpayer to complete the improvement shall be deemed to be the cost to the taxpayer of any new and unused building or of any new and unused improvement to a building contemplated in subsection (1).

  

(2)     For the purposes of this section the cost to a taxpayer of any building or improvement shall be deemed to be the lesser of the actual cost to the taxpayer or the cost which a person would, if he had acquired, erected or improved the building under a cash transaction concluded at arm’s length on the date on which the transaction for the acquisition, erection or improvement of the building was in fact concluded, have incurred in respect of the direct cost of the acquisition, erection or improvement of the building.

 

(3)     Where any building or improvement in respect of which any deduction is claimed in terms of this section was during any previous financial year brought into use for the first time by the taxpayer for the purposes of any trade carried on by such taxpayer, the receipts and accruals of which were not included in the income of such taxpayer during such year, any deduction which could have been allowed in terms of this section during such year or any subsequent year in which such asset was used by the taxpayer shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have been allowed during such previous year or years as if the receipts and accruals of such trade had been included in the income of such taxpayer.

 

(4)     No deduction shall be allowed under this section in respect of any building that has been disposed of by the taxpayer during any previous year of assessment.

 

(5)     No deduction shall be allowed under this section in respect of the cost of a building or improvement if any of that cost has qualified or will qualify for deduction from the taxpayer’s income as a deduction of expenditure or an allowance in respect of expenditure under any other section of this Act.

 

(6)     The deductions which may be allowed or deemed to have been allowed in terms of this section and any other provision of this Act in respect of the cost of any building or improvement shall not in the aggregate exceed the amount of such cost.

 

(7)     For the purposes of subsection (1), to the extent that the taxpayer acquires a part of a building without erecting or constructing that part-

 

(a)     55 per cent of the acquisition price, in the case of a part being acquired; and

 

(b)     30 per cent of the acquisition price, in the case of an improvement being acquired,

 

is deemed to be the cost incurred by that taxpayer in respect of that part or improvement, as the case may be.