The issue before the Supreme Court of Appeal was whether a tax assessment issued by the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS), in terms of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, for the year 2006 were to be set aside. MTN International Ltd had claimed interest deductions on loans it had incurred as expenditure against its gross income for the year of assessment. On 31 March 2011, which was the last day before the original assessment by SARS was due to prescribe, SARS issued a revised assessment, disallowing deduction of the interest expenditure. The tax assessment resulted in an income tax liability of R 73.476.101 of MTN International Ltd. When issuing the tax assessment the officer at SARS manually fixed the ‘due date’ as 30 March 2011, being one day prior to the day on which the assessment was actually issued. MTN International Ltd applied the High Court to have the tax assessment set aside, on the basis that the ‘manipulation of dates’ was irregular and unlawful. SARS, however, contended that the ‘backdating’ was of no consequence and thus did not affect the validity of the assessment. The High Court held that the tax assessment should not be set aside, but granted leave to MTN International Ltd to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Appeal noted that it is not a requirement that an assessment must be dated. Consequently, the failure to specify a ‘due date’ did not have the effect of invalidating the assessment. Likewise, inadvertently fixing an incorrect date – for example, by way of a clerical error – does not affect the validity of the assessment. Accordingly, the fact that a ‘due date’ may have been incorrectly fixed was not a ground for the setting aside the tax assessment. The appeal was dismissed with costs ...