Depending on your individual financial situation, the process of completing your annual tax return may be a complicated one.

It’s advisable to obtain professional assistance to ensure you’ve covered all the bases and prepared your return correctly. We’ve put together a handy checklist of questions to discuss with your tax practitioner before you submit your 2022 return.

By when should I file my tax return?

The tax return filing season is relatively short this year. For non-provisional taxpayers, it opened on 1 July 2022 and effectively ends on 24 October 2022. Provisional taxpayers may file returns until 23 January 2023.

Why is it important to update my details with SARS?

If the South African Revenue Service (SARS) doesn’t have your latest contact, address or banking details – either as an individual or as the registered representative of a trust – you may not be able to access your e-filing profile or receive refund payments which may be due to you.

What are the tax implications of donations, as well as medical expenses?

Many taxpayers are not familiar with the process of donating to Section 18A-approved organisations, which could potentially entitle you to an income tax deduction of up to 10% of your taxable income in a given assessment year.

Your tax practitioner may also request evidence of medical expenses paid out of pocket during the year of assessment, in addition to your monthly medical aid contributions.

What about taxes such as estate duty?

It’s important to draw up a comprehensive estate plan with a fiduciary specialist – encompassing both your local and offshore assets and taking into account taxes and duties to be paid both in South Africa and elsewhere. This will ensure that the proceeds of your estate are distributed to your loved ones in the most cost-effective way possible. Read more about estate planning and securing your legacy here.

What happens if I am emigrating and wish to cease tax residency with SARS?

It is crucial to inform SARS of your decision in writing. The date of cessation will also have to be included on your latest tax return submission, and all e-filing details updated, since the e-filing profile is the mechanism used to apply for your tax emigration clearance.

What are the possible consequences of non-compliance by taxpayers?

SARS can impose severe penalties for non-compliance, which can include non-submission or late submission of income tax returns, submission of incomplete returns, or non-disclosure of income. SARS can impose penalties of up to 200% for understatement of income from both local and foreign sources.

Tax compliance plays a major role should you wish to apply for a foreign investment allowance or a tax clearance certificate.

For an annual fee, our tax compliance team will provide an end-to-end, all-inclusive tax administration and compliance service for private wealth clients, deceased estates and trusts. Please contact Rene Klein on +27 (0)11 778 6662 or at renek@privatewealth.sanlam.co.za.

The post The 2022 Tax Season: What to Consider appeared first on Visi.

Last month, Heather Gourlay-Conyngham’s oil painting, A Young Man, made her the first artist to win SA’s coveted National Portrait Award, presented by Sanlam Private Investments. Debbie Loots caught up with her one rainy Cape Town morning for coffee and a chat.

Painters are often private, introspective and reluctant socialisers… Unless, for some reason, their work pushes them into the spotlight, as is the case of Heather Gourlay-Conyngham, the winner of SA’s inaugural National Portrait Award, presented by Sanlam Private Investments. While trying to squeeze in a word with her at the prize-giving gala, one could see it was her special moment; one, she confessed later, she never imagined while painting alone in her studio for eight hours a day.  

How did this 50-something, ex-St Anne’s College art teacher manage to nab this prestigious R100 000 prize? There aren’t any clear-cut answers, but her consistent dedication to her craft is perhaps a good start.

At the end of 2011, Heather resigned after 30 years of teaching, 19 of which were at St Anne’s, to paint full-time in preparation of a retrospective exhibition at Pietermaritzburg’s Tatham Art Gallery, titled Unfoldings. Instead of the scraps of time for painting stolen after work or over weekends, she now had a full day, every day, to work on her portraits.

Her studio was a small storage room in the house, a darkish space, on her and her husband John’s smallholding in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. She often moved her easel to the house’s thoroughfare to paint there because of its natural light but it wasn’t a place she could settle in.

“I don’t like people looking at my paintings while I work,” she says. “So I had to constantly pack up and move everything back to the store room.” Although she also confesses to often leaving the mess and simply turning the painting to the wall.

A lot of Heather’s work entailed nude female studies and she became concerned about what the gallery community may think of it all when the exhibition opened. A visit to her son Richard in London put her fears into perspective. “Do what’s good for you,” he said. “Trust yourself, don’t worry about other people.”

Inspired by his show of support, on her return she decided to paint a male nude for the exhibition. “While it was up, I compared the portrait to my other work, and I realised that something had shifted in my method. It was a sensitivity I wanted to explore further.”  

In the meantime the SPI National Portrait Award entry deadline was looming and for this, she decided to enter something completely different – a portrait of a car guard she met in town. The result was not what she imagined though. “It simply missed something,” she shrugs.

She then remembered the words of her high school art teacher, Lynn Gilbert: “Always paint for yourself.”  With this in mind she started working on a second portrait of the male nude from her exhibition.

“I wanted to go beyond realism with this one,” she continues, “and get to the essence of it. I tried to capture the strain I saw in the sitter. The shadow falling across his face, the way he seems to be retracting, withdrawing in a way, into the shadows. It looks as if he is resisting while sitting down.”

Heather changed her method of working in this portrait, she started removing rather than building-up layers, a method she feels succeeded and contributed to her confidence in entering it. She also sent the car guard work and a small portrait of her mother sleeping to the competition. “There was still space in the box!” she explains.

Although the car guard didn’t make it to the final 40, the one of her mother did, while A Young Man won her the big prize along with a lot of public lauding and pictures in the press. How does she feel about this instant fame?

She laughs: “I certainly don’t see myself as suddenly famous. What it did do though is highlight portraiture as a relevant art form today.”

And, the money? What’s she going to do with the R100 000?

“I’m going to finish building my new studio,” she says.

With enough light?

She smiles. “Well, there’s always the thoroughfare.” 

View our online exhibition of all 40 National Portrait Award finalists here.

The national touring exhibition can be seen at the at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville until Sunday 8 October; the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery from 24 October to 13 November; Stephan Welz & Co at the Alphen Estate in Constantia, Cape Town, from 26 November to 10 January 2014; and the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts during April 2014. For more information: www.spiportraitaward.co.za

The post Behind the portrait appeared first on Visi.

The winner of South Africa’s first-ever National Portrait Award, presented by Sanlam Private Investments, has been announced but here’s a peek at all 40 finalists who make up the exhibition that will tour the country. Debbie Loots reports from the award ceremony.

Cape Town’s blustering and gusty winter weather didn’t deter guests in their black suits, ties and beautiful frocks to attend the Portrait Award ceremony on Tuesday night. Durbanville’s Rust-en-Vrede Gallery pulled all the stops for this prestigious event where speeches and sushi went down well with glasses of wine and champagne.

Although it was a 50-something full-time painter from KwaZulu-Natal, Heather Gourlay-Conyngham, who walked away with the mega prize of R100 000 (read more here), 39 other artists made the shortlist, narrowed down from a whopping 1 783 entries! Once the speeches and thank-yous were over, it was time to work the gallery walls and see the portraits that Heather’s winsome nude, A Young Man, was up against.

Studies of the self or family members, as well a couple of famous faces, were depicted in various mediums ranging from traditional oils and acrylic to Tamlin Blake’s intricate and charming tapestry in newspaper, Mamphela Ramphele.

Demanding immediate attention, however, are the evocative, larger-than-life, photo-realistic oil works Swain by Vanessa Berlein and Myself with my Favourite Plants by Susan Grundlinghs, along with Hanneke Benadé’s Looking for Damaraland and Angela Bank’s Professor Brown. Julia Teale’s brilliant portrait of Kenny Kunene The Present of Vermeer’s Future is an ironic comment on SA’s high-flying society.

Quiet portraits also commanded a space of their own, including Sanell Aggenbach’s The Secret Life of a Mathematician monotype on paper and Ian Grose’s broody Mavu and Kyle on Studio Couch. A little beauty is Rebecca Haysom’s self-portrait.

Truly reflecting a selection of SA’s finest portrait painters, the 40 works will be up at Rust-en-Vrede gallery until 8 October whereafter the collection will travel around South Africa to be exhibited in collaboration with the Sanlam Art Collection.

The national touring exhibition can be seen at the at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville until Sunday 8 October; the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery from 24 October to 13 November; Stephan Welz & Co at the Alphen Estate in Constantia, Cape Town, from 26 November to 10 January 2014; and the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts during April 2014. For more information: www.spiportraitaward.co.za 

The post The 40 National Portrait Award finalists appeared first on Visi.

The R100 000 prize drew 1 783 entries, which were all adjudicated by an independent panel comprising Hayden Proud, curator for historical painting and sculptures at the Iziko SA National Gallery in Cape Town; Vulindlela Nyoni, a lecturer in printmaking at the University of Stellenbosch; and artist and teacher Susanne du Toit, who recently scooped the prestigious 2013 BP Portrait Award in the United Kingdom. Stefan Hundt, head of SPI’s art advisory service and convener of the judging panel, commended the judges for their “exceptional dedication in making a very difficult decision, given the large number of entries received”.

Stefan further explained the final decision: “Heather’s portrait was chosen for her exceptional skill, the subject choice, the sincerity of the relationship between artist and subject, and the fact that her interpretation challenged convention and pushed beyond the normal and the accepted.”

Born in Durban in 1956, Heather lives in Hilton in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. She has worked as an art teacher and painter since graduating with a BA Fine Arts from the University of Natal in 1978 and a Higher Education Diploma in 1980 from the University of South Africa. Her paintings focus primarily on the human form.

Daniël Kriel, CEO of SPI, said the outstanding quality and standard of the entries received was testament to the range and depth of talent South Africa had to offer. “Portraiture in South Africa has had a rich, and at times controversial, history that reflects the country’s social and political evolution. It is within this context that we are proud to partner with the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery to celebrate and showcase the best of original portraiture in South Africa.” 

He said art is a passion for many of SPI’s clients, and is of increasing investment interest. “We feel particularly connected to the platform of portraiture, since it resonates with SPI’s vision and aims. Our expertise lies in wealth management, where we nurture and value close personal relationships with our clients. In the same way, there are few things more intimate than the relationship between the artist and the subject in a portrait.”

View our online exhibition of all 40 finalists here.

The national touring exhibition can be seen at the at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville until Sunday 8 October; the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery from 24 October to 13 November; Stephan Welz & Co at the Alphen Estate in Constantia, Cape Town, from 26 November to 10 January 2014; and the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts during April 2014. For more information: www.spiportraitaward.co.za

The post Nude wins SA’s first National Portrait Award appeared first on Visi.

Susanne’s painting depicts her 35-year-old son Pieter in a striking but subtle expressionist style of painting. Pieter was invited to pose any way he likes, as long as his hands were very visible as Susanne feels that the hands are essential in conveying a subject’s personality. 

In terms of expression, says Susanne: “I look to the body to provide as much expression as the face. Having said that, the averted gaze of this portrait, which was his choice, struck me as characteristic of his reflective character, and became intensely engaging.”

The portrait forms part of a series that Susanne has completed of her entire family. Susanne was born in and studied at Pretoria, before moving on to the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and finally settling in Crowthrone, Berkshire, in the UK in 1994. Her illustrious family includes her daughter Elize du Toit, former Hollyoaks actress, and Elize’s husband, actor Rafe Spall.

With a purse of £30 000 (approximately R470 000) as well as a £5 000 (approximately R78 000) commission from the gallery, the prize is sweet, to say the least, never mind the global renown. Susanne was praised for “her simple but outstanding portrait of her son” by the director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, Sandy Nairn, who also chaired the judging panel.

Family prevailed in this year’s awards, with John Devane being announced as runner-up for the painting of his three children. See a preview of the full exhibition of finalists here – all rather impressive, including an entry by another South African artist, Lionel Smit.

South Africa’s legacy of exemplary portrait painters includes Paul Emsley, who won the BP National Portrait Award in 2007 and painted the official Kate Middleton portrait last year (read more here), as well as Craig Wylie (read our interview here), who won the BP National Portrait Award in 2008.

It is thus hardly surprising then that South Africa should want to celebrate our talent at home with the inaugural Sanlam Private Investment National Portrait Awards (read more here) taking place this year.

The deadline for the Sanlam Private Investments National Portrait Award is 13 August 2013 and the winner of the R100 000 prize will be announced on 27 August. For more info and entry forms, visit spiportraitaward.co.za

The post South African wins UK’s Portrait Award appeared first on Visi.

The new National Portrait Award launched by Sanlam Private Investments has reignited the conversation about what makes a good portrait. Craig Wylie, a Rhodes University graduate internationally renowned for his arresting paintings since winning the 2008 BP Portrait Award in the UK, sheds some light.

How did you get into portraiture?

From a young age I’ve drawn people, both imaginary and real. As I became more serious about art as a vocation, it was a natural progression to continue this interest in the human figure.

What is the appeal of portraiture?

I love what a good portrait does to me. It seems to operate on a visceral level. I’m interested in all kinds of painting and art in general, but the works that move me are more frequently figurative. I feel it’s possible to create something very interesting with coloured paints, a flat surface and a human subject.

What is unique about your portraits?

I suppose there is a peculiar contradiction in my current work. At first glance the portraits appear to have a solid presence, created by the high level of photo-reality and large scale. However, while one continues to look, this seemingly apparent certainty of existence seems to oscillate and fragment, and the paintings take on an ethereal, almost weightless, feeling. This may be enhanced by the fact that I paint from a computer screen and try to combine the photographic light within the photographs I work from and the actual physical light that passes through them from a backlit computer screen. The figures, therefore, could be seen to flicker between having an actual physical presence, created through the multilayered process of painting and, because they are also flat, almost not existing at all. Just being hologram-like impressions of themselves, cyphers of possible lives lived or just ghosts of energy briefly flickering in human form. This constant switching between presence and apparition as one looks at the painting seems to me to give the works a haunting quality.

What makes a good portrait?

I think it must leave an impression beyond mere likeness. The painterly elements of line, colour and form must congeal into something that has a life of its own. It doesn’t have to look like the sitter, even. Just excise something from the condition of looking at and/or thinking about the sitter, and trap that in the paint.

The deadline for the Sanlam Private Investments National Portrait Award is 13 August 2013 and the winner of the R100 000 prize will be announced on 27 August. For more info and entry forms, visit spiportraitaward.co.za

The post Portrait perfect appeared first on Visi.

Judith Mason, Vulindlela Philani Elliot Nyoni and Hayden Proud have been appointed the judges of the Sanlam Private Investments National Portrait Award.

Last year we announced the launch of the Sanlam Private Investments National Portrait Award, a portraiture competition that is open to everyone, professional artists and gifted members of the public. The award comes with a monetary prize of R100 000. We also mentioned that the submitted artworks would be judged by a panel of three judges. Well, the judges have been announced and they are Judith Mason, Vulindlela Philani Elliot Nyoni and Hayden Proud.

All three of them bring a wealth of experience from diverse sources.  At 75 years of age and having had her first solo show in 1964, Judith has a career that has spanned 45 years during which she has represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale, Art Basel and other prestigious international art fairs. She is one of our country’s most distinguished artists and her work is represented in all the major SA art collections and museums.

Zimbabwean-born 37-year-old artist Vulindlela, although much younger, has already shown widely on a national level and he continues to expand his international profile. In addition to being a practicing artist, Vulindlela has also been a printmaking lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch’s Department of Visual Art since 2001. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Hayden Proud, also Zimbabwean-born, was originally the curator of historical collections at the South African National Gallery but, when it amalgamated into Iziko Museums in 2001, his brief was extended to include curatorship of the Michaelis Collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings at Cape Town’s Old Town House. He works strategically with the collection to make it relevant to a new generation of art enthusiasts, and therefore creating a dialogue between our colonial past and our transformational present.

Entries for the competition only close on 19 August, so you still have plenty time to enter but best you get cracking on the making! The award ceremony will take place on 27 August at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Durbanville, where the short-listed works will be on exhibition and open for public viewing from 28 August to 8 October 2013.

For more information on the competition, entry forms and competition rules visit www.spiportraitaward.co.za.

The post Portrait Award judges announced appeared first on Visi.

Read Stefan Hundt’s defense of the Kate Middleton portrait.

The artist behind the controversial Kate Middleton portrait, Paul Emsley grew up in South Africa. VISI was lucky enough to speak to him.

Paul taught drawing and painting at Stellenbosch University for 12 years before moving to the United Kingdom in 1996. In 2007 he won the BP Portrait Award, the most prestigious portrait award in the world, for his large-scale portrait of Michael Simpson. He is also responsible for arguably the most endearing portrait of Nelson Mandela – the only artist to have Madiba sit for him in person. 

How did you get into portraiture?

I have always drawn people but I never saw myself as a portrait painter. It’s only after the BP Portrait Award in 2007 that I have been doing this more often.

What makes a good portrait?

It is impossible to say. Interpretations of “good” are very subjective. Usually a portrait must look like the sitter but sometimes there is room for more experimentation depending on the approach of the artist.

What is it about portraiture that appeals to you so much?

I find the forms and shapes in faces interesting. They carry so much history of the person and of their ancestors. 

What is unique about your portraits?

I try to make an image beyond realism. Correct in detail but hopefully with something beyond that.

I have always loved drawing. The dryness of the paper and the chalk demand precision and exactness. It quickly exposes one’s weaknesses and mistakes, leaving no room for cleverness or tricks.

Which portrait artists do you most admire?

John Singer Sargent, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Augustus John, Holbein and Rembrandt; there are many more as well.

What is your favourite portrait by yourself, and another?

I suppose of my portraits the small drawing of Michael Simpson might be a favourite. I have always loved Holbein’s portrait of Georg Gisze.

Where do you work when making a portrait?

My studio, which is an average size room with two banks of powerful daylight bulbs. Because it is not a large room it is kept orderly.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on various flower drawings and animal commissions. I will also be starting a second portrait of Nelson Mandela this year.

Sanlam Private Investments art advisor Stefan Hundt writes a considered response to the Kate Middleton portrait. SPI have launched a National Portrait Award in South Africa. Find out more here.

The post Q&A Paul Emsley appeared first on Visi.

Calling all artists: Fancy winning R100 000 for a portrait you have created? Then enter South Africa’s first National Portrait Award, launched by Sanlam Private Investments (SPI). As the media partner, VISI spoke to Stefan Hundt, head of the SPI Art Advisory Service and curator of the Sanlam Art Collection.

What sort of response are you hoping for?

We hope for a large and diverse range of entries. Portraiture is not a simple thing, although it is quite significant. In South Africa, historically, artists such as Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser painted a number of portraits, largely because of our British colonial heritage. Britain places great importance on this style – it’s the only country with a National Portrait Gallery. Nonetheless, portraits are not the biggest seller in the market, probably because they carry such individualism. What we’re hoping to do with the SPI National Portait Award is to get people to engage with the concept of what a portrait is, rather than simply a likeness in head-and-shoulders format. For instance, the medium of sculpture can add interesting elements.

What makes a good portrait?

The first thing, for most people, is the traditional perspective of seeing a likeness; a relation between what’s on the canvas and the actual person. The next thing is that the artwork should represent the person beyond simply their physical appearance. Artists use various techniques for this, for instance the angle from which they portray the subject, the texture and the proportion. Various conventions and tropes have been developed over the centuries and the artist’s ability to manipulate them determines the success of the portrait. On the other hand, the artist can subvert those conventions, turning them upside down.

Who makes a good subject for a portrait?

I don’t think you can identify an ideal portrait subject, but the biggest problem is painting people who are famous. Most portraits of Nelson Mandela, for instance, are terrible. It’s a challenge to capture someone whose image is so well-known across the world because, to do it justice, you almost have to fight the popular perception of the person. Also, most Mandela portraits are done from secondary sources and photos, so they’re sentimental and imaginary. It’s difficult to do a portrait of a well-known person unless you can get them to sit in front of you. If you want to do it well, paint someone you know.

Do you have any advice for entrants?

Get cracking! The deadline is 19 August 2013.

The Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, Cape Town, will hold an exhibition of the top 40 entries, which will then travel to galleries around South Africa.

For more information, entry forms and competition rules, go to www.spiportraitaward.co.za or call Monica Ross on 021 976 4691.

The post One week to enter Portrait Award! appeared first on Visi.

Conceived in partnership with Durbanville’s Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, the winner of the award will be announced in August 2013. The winning work – as well as around 40 other outstanding entries – will tour South Africa in an exhibition presented in collaboration with the Sanlam Art Collection and VISI magazine.

Portraiture holds a significant place in Western art tradition and the award aims to shine the spotlight firmly on this evocative and celebrated genre that. South African artists are challenged to enter works that engage the context of past and contemporary art history, in the medium of their choice (excluding lens-based artwork, i.e. video, film, photography).

A panel of three judges will identify the winning portrait and select additional works for the national touring exhibition. All works will be judged anonymously so artists are requested not to sign their work. The panel will be convened by Stefan Hundt, head of the Sanlam Private Investments Art Advisory Service and curator of the Sanlam Art Collection.

Stefan says that South Africa has a rich and, at times, controversial legacy of portraiture influenced by its social and political history. “Accommodating the intentions of the commissioner and expectations of the subject requires the artist to invoke an extensive repertoire of skills and knowledge to fashion a work of substance that exceeds the minimum requirements of likeness and character.”

“We feel particularly connected to this new platform for art in South Africa,” says Daniël Kriel, CEO of SPI.  “We know art is a passion for many of our clients, and of increasing investment interest, and few things are more intimate or personal than a portrait.  A commissioned portrait can be the height of flattery, or the paragon of vanity, yet remains a defining testament to the person’s individuality.”

The SPI National Portrait Award 2013 is open to anyone resident in South Africa older than 21 years.  Entries should be received by 19 August 2013. The award ceremony will take place on 27 August 2013 at the Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Durbanville, where the selected works will be on exhibition and open for public viewing from 28 August to 8 October 2013.

For more information on the competition, entry forms and competition rules: www.spiportraitaward.co.za

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