Tracy Gutuza

Tracy Gutuza is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Commercial Law and is involved in the teaching of both undergraduate and postgraduate law students, in the areas of tax law, corporate finance law, basic contract law and company law. After obtaining her LLB at UCT in 1995, A/Prof Gutuza completed her articles and was admitted as an attorney in 1997. Thereafter she worked as a legal advisor at a niche commercial bank and at an oil company and focused on property, finance and tax. In 2003, after completing her first LLM at UNISA and her second LLM at University College London, A/Prof Gutuza joined the UCT Law Faculty as a lecturer in business law. A/Prof Gutuza spent 8 months at SARS in 2014/2015 in the Legal and Policy division, and rejoined the faculty in March 2015 – and says that as a UCT Alumnus, she has a strong vested interest in the Faculty and the university.

A/Prof Gutuza is the UCT convenor of the Get Smarter online course on tax, and has also presented a number of short courses on International Tax Law, Islamic financing and the tax aspects of securitisation, corporate finance and tax administration.

Her research interests are in the areas of business law, tax law, finance law, international tax law and legal education. Her PhD thesis focused on the methods used to relieve international double taxation in South African domestic legislation and tax treaties entered into by South Africa. A/Prof Gutuza was drawn to Tax by its combination of economics and law, and being able to apply different areas of the law on one subject. “It’s like a puzzle with different parts moving all the time, which changes the picture - and one is therefore never really completely up to date. I suppose I love the uncertainty!” says A/Prof Gutuza.

Asked if she prefers academia to corporate, A/Prof Gutuza responded: “I prefer academia. It allows me the freedom to do research in an area of my own choice. I really enjoy the student interaction, which is very rewarding. I love seeing students develop into lawyers and tax experts. I also supervise postgraduate students, which allows me to keep in touch with my specialist area.”

Publications

• Contributed chapters on ‘Contracts of Lease’ and ‘Black Economic Empowerment’ in Collier- Reed and Lehmann (eds) Basic Principles of Business Law (2006) Lexis Nexis Butterworths.
• ‘Taxing the partner of a foreign partnership – a case note’ SALJ 125: 514 -520.
• ‘Tax and e-commerce: where is the source’ SALJ 127: 328-338.
• ‘Some tax implications of traditional knowledge under conventional intellectual property’ Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal Vol 13, Issue 4, 145-157.
• Updated chapters on ‘Contracts of Lease’ and ‘Black Economic Empowerment’ for the 2nd edition of Collier- Reed and Lehmann (eds) Basic Principles of Business Law (2010) Lexis Nexis Butterworths.
• ‘South Africa’ chapter in International Fiscal Association Cahiers De Troit Fiscal International: Enterprise Services (2012) Vol 97A 593 – 618.
• ‘Has the recent United Kingdom case law affected the interplay between ‘Place of Effective Management’ and ‘Controlled Foreign Companies’ (2012) 24 SA Merc LJ 424-437.
• ‘Economic development and the role of tax in South Africa: The South African headquarter company structure’ in Y. Brauner and M. Stewart (eds) Tax, Law and Development (2013) Edward Elgar.
• ‘South Africa’ chapter in International Fiscal Association Cahiers De Troit Fiscal International: Cross border outsourcing- issues: strategies and solutions (2014) Vol 99a 643-660
• ‘The headquarter company structure in the Southern African context: a South African tax law perspective’ (2014) 47 (2) CILSA
• Book review: ‘Tax Law: An introduction: Beric Croome (editor), Annet Oguttu, Elzette Muller, Thabo Legwaila, Maeve Kolitz, RC Williams, Cornelius Louw’ SALJ 131: 939-942
• ‘Dual residence and the proviso: Where was Tradehold resident’ (2014) 26 SAMLJ 543.
• ‘Tax treaties, the Income Tax Act and the Constitution: trump or reconcile’ (2016) 28 SAMLJ 481
• ‘Law of Taxation’ 2015 Annual Survey of South African Law
• ‘Intellectual Property: A few thoughts on tax and exchange control’ (2016) 4 SAIPLJ 1.
• Law of Taxation’ 2016 Annual Survey of South African Law

Conferences and lectures

• Paper presented at the South African Law Teachers conference in July 2006 held at the UCT. Title: ‘The Impact of Globalisation on Taxing Rights’.
• Paper presented at the ‘Traditional Knowledge in Legal Context’ Conference in March 2009 held at the Potchefstroom campus of the Northwest University. Title: ‘The Tax implications of Traditional Knowledge under Conventional Intellectual Property’.
• Paper presented at the UNISA 8th International Workshop on Commercial Law on 3 August 2011. Title: ‘Has recent case law affected the interplay between “place of effective management” and “controlled foreign companies”?
• Paper presented at the International Fiscal Association International Tax Research Symposium, held in Boston, USA on 30 September 2012. Title: ‘A South African Tax Law perspective: The Headquarter Company Structure in the Southern African context.’
• Attended the Law Schools Global League conference in July 2016, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Chicago, USA.
• Presented a paper at the University of Pretoria International Consumer Law Conference in September 2016: Title ‘Lowest Display Price Binding?’
• Presented at the Mineral Law in African Colloquium in November 2016, Swakopmund, Namibia
• Presented at the BRICS and Developing Countries Legal Experts Forum in June 2017, Ekaterinburg, Russia on ‘Tax, Special Economic Zones and Human Rights’.
• Presented at the Law Schools Global League Academic conference in July 2017, Mexico on ‘Tax Law and Human Rights’.
• Presented a lecture on the international tax issues affecting African countries at Wuhan University School of Law, China in November 2017.

Other Contributions and Positions

• 2003: Contributor to chapter on ‘Compliance of a Provincial Fuel Tax with the Constitution’ for the Feasibility of Fuel Tax Levy in the Western Cape: Report for the Western Cape Treasury with Professor Christina Murray and Karla Saller (June 2003).
• 2008: Appointed as an Advisory Committee member of the South African Law Reform Commission: Project 25: Statutory Law Revision.
• Reviewer: for a number of journals, including the South African Law Journal, the South African Mercantile Law Journal, the Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, and the Stellenbosch Law Review.
• Deputy Dean: Postgraduate from 1 July 2016 to 31 December 2016.
• Deputy Dean: Undergraduate from 1 January 2017 to
• Acting Dean when the Dean was unavailable.
• Vice –Chancellors nominee for the period 22 Dec 2017 to 15 Jan 2018 to hear appeals on Deferred Exam related matters
• Various leadership positions at UCT, including being the Chairperson of the following Law Faculty Committees: the Law Faculty Transformation Committee, the Law Faculty Orientation Committee, the Law Faculty IT Committee.
• Co–opted member of the UCT Senate, have chaired both student and staff disciplinary hearings, as well as being a member of staff disciplinary investigation committees.