South Africa finds itself vulnerable to exploitation by the measures taken by multinational enterprises (MNEs) who seek to enter into tax avoidance schemes that artificially shift profits to low- or no-tax jurisdictions. While common law, specific and general anti-avoidance measures may be used as a defence against these schemes, there has been no judicial consideration of the current South African general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) since its replacement in 2006. In this context this paper makes two contributions. First, the paper applies the current GAAR to a recent case where the predecessor to the current GAAR was applied to a scheme entered into by an MNE. This is done in order to determine if the current GAAR (unlike its predecessor) is able to stand up to the rigours of court when presented with similar facts. In doing so it demonstrates how the untested GAAR may be interpreted and applied. Second, the paper makes suggestions for amendment to the current GAAR in order to improve its efficacy in an international context.

中文翻译：

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萨索尔石油案-目前的南非GAAR能否承受法院的严厉考验？

南非发现自己容易受到跨国企业（MNEs）采取措施的剥削，这些企业寻求进入避税计划，将人为地将利润转移到低税或无税司法管辖区。虽然可以使用普通法，特定和一般性的反避税措施来抵制这些计划，但自2006年南非反避税规则（GAAR）生效以来，就没有司法上的考虑。本文做出了两点贡献。首先，本文将当前的GAAR应用于最近的案例，在该案例中，当前的GAAR的前身被应用于跨国公司所订立的计划。这样做是为了确定当前的GAAR（与其前任不同）在遇到类似事实时是否能够经受住法院的严厉考验。通过这样做，它演示了如何解释和应用未经测试的GAAR。其次，本文提出了对现行GAAR进行修正的建议，以提高其在国际范围内的效力。