Anél Jordaan – Tax Specialist

CA(SA) MCom (Tax)

Anél qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2003 following which she joined the PwC Corporate Tax division in Pretoria as a Tax Specialist.  18 months later she moved over to its Mining Tax department in Johannesburg as a Senior Tax Specialist.  In 2006 she joined the Vodacom Group at the head office, looking after the Income tax and VAT compliance as well as consolidated tax reporting for the listed entity. In 2007 she completed her Master’s Degree in Taxation at the University of Pretoria, and obtained the award for best MCom student in 2007.  A year later she obtained an Advanced VAT Diploma from UNISA.  Early in 2012, Anél took on the Tax Risk Management function for the Vodacom Group, and assisted with the implementation of all tax policies for the Group post being acquired by Vodafone and its subsequent listing.  In 2013 she relocated to Cape Town and joined the Pepkor Group as Group Tax Manager in.  In July 2017 she took on the role as Head of Tax of the newly listed company, Steinhoff Africa Retail Ltd (now Pepkor Holdings Ltd).

During her time at Pepkor, she established the Group’s tax department and devised and implemented the tax control framework and structures for the Group, not only at a head office level, but also within the respective businesses, operating, amongst other, in the apparel, furniture and building retail sectors and also in the financial services industry (mainly credit providers). She assisted in and advised on the tax implications and implementation of numerous business acquisitions and disposals and represented the Group in various dispute resolutions with SARS.  More recently she formed part of the working group advising on the refinancing of the Pepkor Group in 2018.

Outside of her corporate tax responsibilities, she was tasked to assist the supply chain operations from a compliance perspective and was instrumental in liaising with top management at SARS Customs to ensure trade facilitation for the Group’s main importers following the drive to merge taxes/ taxpayers. She implemented a central Customs control function and facilitated the migration of various importers onto new Customs codes, as well as initiated the implementation of an automated system to track and reconcile Customs clearances with importer’s ERP and clearing information.

Anél resigned from Pepkor in 2018 to achieve a better work/life balance and to spend more time with her family. She is passionate about the close relationship between tax and business, specifically the importance of marrying a proper understanding of the operational business with the increasingly complex tax and accounting technical landscape. She strongly believes that tax advice that aligns with both the commercial strategy of a business and the operational implementation capabilities, allows for more effective compliance management, informed decision making as well as long term risk mitigation.

Anél still acts as an external advisor to Pepkor and also consults for Nubis.