Author Archive
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Employee Tax Incentives
Are you missing out on your employee tax incentive. It could be like having the winning lottery ticket but not checking if you had won. If you are employing young people and training them, chances are government will help carry this cost for you. There are some rules that apply, when wanting to claim this incentive. The business must employ new people, who have never been employed by the business before. The business may also ...
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Are you a small business?
This question is very important, as it will have an impact on how SARS will assess your tax return. Qualifying small businesses receive reduced tax rate and better allowances when paying taxes. Being a small business is not a objective matter, there is very clear requirements set by SARS. The type of entity: The business need to be a registered Closed Corporation, Co-op, or Private Company Type of shareholders or members: Only natural persons may be ...
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Are you aware of the new method for making your tax payments?
One of the more efficient government institutions is the South African Revenue Services (SARS). Every year they increase collections and implement new systems to simplify tax compliance. At the beginning of September 2013 SARS also changed the way in which they collect taxes. Previously, the most convenient way for making payment was to complete and submit your return using the SARS e-filing website. You could then create a payment based on the information submitted. Two options for ...
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What is the possibility that SARS will seize your records?
Business owners often live in fear that SARS will just arrive at their business and seize their records. However, there is a process that needs to be followed before SARS is able to search your business premises. Under the new Tax Administration Act (TAA), SARS may conduct an unannounced, but limited, inspection at your business premises to verify that you comply with the formal tax obligations under the law. These obligations include: Registration for all of the taxes ...
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Practice makes perfect
In the world we live in today, it’s mostly about quick results and instant satisfaction. We’re always on the go, with something we must do urgently. We seem to have forgotten some of the good values our parents preached and practised. One of the most important of these values is to keep on practising until we get it right. Most of our parents are typical of the Baby Boomer Generation – hard-working individuals motivated by position ...
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When can Input VAT be claimed?
Before you can claim any VAT back at all, your business needs to be registered as a VAT Vendor with SARS. All VAT vendors need to pay over to SARS the total of all the Output VAT they have received by invoicing customers, less whatever Input VAT they have paid themselves on goods and services bought by them. The question is when are you able to claim the Input VAT you’ve paid and when are you ...
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What Information should you gather now for your Personal Income Tax return?
As with most things in life, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive when addressing issues. For getting your income tax return filed on time this is also the case. Here is a list of the most common information that should be gathered well in advance of actually doing the income tax return. Firstly it is a good idea to get your IRP5 certificate for your employer. SARS should have this information already, as your employer ...
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Changes to the tax treatment of trusts
In his budget speech on 27 February 2013, the minister of finance indicated that government will be changing the tax treatment of trust. The flow through or conduit pipe principal will no longer apply, but what does this mean for trustees and beneficiaries of trusts. The reason for this change according to treasury, is to stop a practice of using trusts to avoid paying tax by distributing income to beneficiaries who have lower effective tax rates than ...
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Budget speech 27 February 2013
The minster of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordan, delivered his annual budget speech on 27 February 2013. We were all waiting anxiously to hear what will the good and bad news be. For individuals the good news was that if you earn less than R250,000 and have only worked for one employer during the year and does not earn any other sources of income, like rental income, you will no longer have to submit a tax return. There is ...
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Proximal CRM Features
We have given our Proximal Company Resource manager (CRM) to some of our clients for testing. Please comment on your experience while using Proximal CRM. Please leave your posts on feature enhancements. Thank you.
