BDO picks Schneider as head of tax in South Africa

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

BDO picks Schneider as head of tax in South Africa

ferdieschneider100.jpg

Ferdie Schneider will join BDO South Africa as head of tax on July 1.

He was a partner of KPMG from March 2005 until now, specialising in VAT. Before that, he was a partner of Deloitte for more than six years. Between January 1990 and December 1996, he worked in government, first as chief taxation officer of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and then as senior economist in the National Treasury of South Africa.

In the 1990s, Schneider was a member of a government committee on VAT in financial services, which resulted in a widening of the South African VAT net, and in 2010 was a founder, with SARS, of a VAT credit retail focus group, which investigated the VAT implications in that specific sector, looking specifically at VAT apportionment and issues such as securitisation and direct attribution.

He is a member of the insurance VAT committee which is looking into the VAT issues in the insurance industry. He has also worked on VAT legislative changes requiring foreign electronic service providers to register for SA VAT purposes where the law deems consumption to take place in SA.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Projected revenue losses and exemption requests are harming the project’s capability and viability
HMRC secured lengthy prison sentences in a major payroll VAT fraud case, while law firms announced tax promotions and hires
Significant changes include an update to profit markers and an alteration to how an ‘inbound distributor’ is defined
ITR sat down for a pre-event interview with Tim Zech, WTS Germany, and Jeff Soar, WTS UK, keynote speaker at next week’s ITR AI in Tax Forum 2026 in London
Brazil’s bid to seek US-style exemptions from pillar two is ‘highly advantageous’ for multinationals, ITR has also heard
India is signalling flexibility on expat taxation to attract foreign expertise, though employers will need to navigate disclosure, treaty and scope uncertainties
Brazil is trying to follow in the US’s footsteps and secure its own 'qualified side-by-side status', ITR understands
The surge in probes comes as the UK tax authority seeks to close a VAT gap of £11.4bn from last year, Pinsent Masons’ research has suggested
ITR’s survey data reveals widespread client disappointment with firms’ use of technology but our upcoming AI in Tax event offers advisers a chance to flip the script
Firms announced key tax partner hires across the US and UK, while fintech and software providers revealed board appointments and new tools for multinational tax teams
Gift this article