more information as to the contents thereof than the entries in the alphabetical index, enabling the reader who has consulted the chronological index to know whether or not the article or editorial in question is what he or she is looking for, or interested in.

Articles and editorials of interest can then be consulted in the relevant volume of The Taxpayer, and those who do not have access to the relevant volume can obtain a copy of the item in question using the e-mail address info@taxpayer.co.za. (A nominal fee will be charged for this service.)

The third section of the Index, an alphabetical list of the non-editorial contributors of articles to The Taxpayer – editors are expected to contribute articles – is our way of thanking them for their contributions and of paying tribute to their efforts by making their work readily identifiable within the Index.

What has struck the compiler of this index during the compilation process is the fact that there truly are gems of analysis to be found in seventy years of The Taxpayer that are as current today as they were at the time when they were written. There is, of course, also material that is out-of-date, and one needs a certain amount of insight to know which is which, but even ‘out-of-date’ analysis – out-of-date only because the fiscal context has changed – can be of considerable interest because, although history does not always repeat itself, it often rhymes; and good analysis can in any event often be applied mutatis mutandis. The way of thinking does not change.

Both editorials and articles have been included because there is often very little difference between an article and an editorial, and to omit the latter would often be to exclude important articles in the guise of editorials. The true editorials are somewhat more opinionated, but these too are not without interest. They sometimes reflect changing political, historical and fiscal times that are interesting in their own right, and they all have as their source the well of fascination with tax law that characterises true tax professionals, today no less than yesterday.

It is hoped that the new index will facilitate access to the quality of excellence that has characterised the past, and that it will continue to inspire excellence in the future.

We are confident that, as is the case with the journal itself, just one or two good ideas obtained by consulting the index may well prove to be invaluable.

Details of how to order copies of Index to Articles and Editorials in The Taxpayer 1952 to 2021 are available on our website, www.taxpayer.co.za.

‘Put bluntly: If you seek to assess and collect tax on the basis that it is due despite Absa being ignorant, then it is not open to claim that you deserve a chance to go behind the premise of the assessment levied, so you can afterwards attempt to prove Absa did have knowledge. In my view, it would be untenable, having regard to SARS’s conduct, appraised holistically, to endorse a reading of the section 80J notice that would allow it to wriggle out of the premise it chose to rely on to levy an assessment.

Accordingly, there is no room for a plausible dispute of fact. Absa was served with a section 80J notice and subseqently served with letters of assessment on the facts reported by Absa about its role in the series of transactions. A semantic gyration cannot turn a naartjie into an orange.’

– Sutherland J in ABSA Bank Ltd & Another v Commissioner, South

African Revenue Service 2021 Taxpayer 129, [2021] ZAGPPHC 183, 2021 (3) SA 513 (GP), 83 SATC 401, paras 37 and 38

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