Hello,
I represent a foreign company interested in selling in South Africa to financial institutions a license to use a computer based software which generates buy and sell signals - commonly known as market timing - for the major international equity markets, mostly the US and which can be applied to trade ETF's and the major equity derivatives such as futures on the NDX 100 or the S&P 500. The software will be installed on a PC, with a value of 20,000 rand with the selling price of the software being $ 5 million, about 40 million rand. The price is justified by the outstanding performance of the software which can easily be assessed by a sophisticated financial institution. The software would have annualized returns in excess of 15% over the past eleven years as applied to the S&P 500 index. While past performance is no indication/guarantee of future performance, the decision process used is fully disclosed to the buyer which can use the software in its overall decision making process. The buyer will receive two weeks of on premise training and five years of technical support. While the buyer will be able to operate the computer and software on a daily basis, the seller will provide also the timing signals as they occur.

I understand from an other from posting that software installed on a PC can be amortized by corporations over two years for tax purposes.
Does this apply to any software or only off the shelf software packages worth a few 100,000 rands. Any limitations given the size of the purchase, about 40 million rand. Useful life of the software is difficult to assess, but five years seems reasonable, with periodic updates.
Where can I find detailed information on this subject matter?

My other question relates to exchange control matters. The selling price of $5 million will be paid at the closing of the sale by the buyer's bank to the seller's bank in Hong Kong in $US. What is the best and most cost effective manner to make the payment and obtain government authorization to pay

Looking forward to a long and pleasant experience with the forum
Norhatley