Blog

“The two-pot system is meant to support long-term retirement savings while offering flexibility to help fund members in financial distress.” (National Treasury) With two new pots added to what used to be the one-pot South African retirement system, fund members can now access a portion of their retirement savings before retirement, while still preserving savings for retirement. There are, however, immediate and long-term tax and other implications that should be…  Read more

“A Trust is a ‘person’ for tax purposes and is therefore a taxpayer in its own right.” (SARS) With Tax Season 2024 for trusts opening on 16 September, there’s no better time to draw trustees’ attention to SARS’ continued emphasis that all trusts must register for income tax purposes, including dormant trusts. Once registered, trusts are obligated to submit income tax returns that are aligned with other trust reporting requirements…  Read more

06 September – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 16 September – Start of Filing Season 2024: Trusts 25 September – Value Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 27 September – Excise duty payments 30 September – VAT electronic submissions and payments, Corporate Income Tax Provisional Tax payments where applicable, and Personal Income Tax Top-up Provisional Tax payments. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on…  Read more

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” (Albert Einstein) Tax rebates, deductions and incentives provide relief to taxpayers by reducing the amount of tax payable to SARS, resulting in welcome tax savings. But how do you figure out which rebates, deductions or incentives apply to you – and what’s the procedure for claiming them? This is where we come in. Chances are we’ve already applied…  Read more

“We urge taxpayers to be transparent and accurate when filing their tax returns to enable a constructive relationship with SARS.” (Edward Kieswetter, SARS Commissioner) July 15 marked the start of the 2024 Filing Season for provisional and non-provisional taxpayers who were not subjected to auto-assessments, covering the tax period 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024. As part of our quest to simplify your life, we’ve compiled a list of…  Read more

07 August – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 23 August – Value Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 29 August – Excise duty payments 30 August – VAT electronic submissions and payments, Corporate Income Tax Provisional payments where applicable, and Personal Income Tax Provisional payments. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or…  Read more

“The aim of a tax audit is to determine if the taxpayer has complied with the relevant legislation administered by SARS.” (SARS) During a tax audit, SARS examines financial statements, accounting records and supporting documents to check if you or your business correctly declared your tax position on a tax return. If you didn’t submit a return, an audit will investigate if your actions complied with tax law. Either way, being…  Read more

05 July – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 25 July – Value-Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 30 July – Excise Duty payments 31 July – Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Provisional Tax payments 31 July – Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor…  Read more

“The employment tax incentive is aimed at encouraging employers to hire young and less experienced work seekers.” (SARS Employers ETI Guide) With Youth Day celebrations around the corner, business owners have an opportunity not only to consider unlocking the benefits of having young workers in their teams, but also to make a difference to South Africa’s dismal youth employment rate. What are the benefits of hiring young employees? More likely…  Read more

07 June – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 25 June – Value-Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 27 June – Excise Duty payments 28 June – Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Provisional Tax payments 28 June – End of the 1st fiscal quarter 28 June – Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability…  Read more

“Failure by an employer to comply with its obligations does not only harm that employer and the fiscus, but also employees. SARS vigorously pursues employers that fail to comply.” (SARS) Employers must submit their annual reconciliation declarations (EMP501) with accurate and up-to-date payroll information about their employees by 31 May this year. This is among the requirements imposed on employers by the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act: deducting or…  Read more

07 May – PAYE submissions and payments 24 May– Value-Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 30 May – Excise duty payments 31 May – VAT electronic submissions and payments, & Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Provisional Tax payments where applicable. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage…  Read more

“[The new requirements] enable… a more efficient process to make deductions available to qualifying donor taxpayers and to help prevent section 18A claims abuse.” (SARS) Public benefit organisations (PBOs) are engaged in public benefit activities for example religious institutions, day care centres, disaster relief organisations, health clinics, etc. Many are dependent on donations and, to encourage the public’s generosity, a tax deduction for certain donations made by taxpayers is provided.…  Read more

05 April – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 25 April – VAT manual submissions and payments 29 April – Excise Duty payments 30 April – Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments & CIT Provisional payments where applicable. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising…  Read more

“Our bigger challenge… is that our pie is not growing fast enough and this limits our ability to generate sufficient revenues to distribute among our priority areas.” (Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana – Budget 2024) Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s third Budget Speech in an election year contained few surprises, but also little in the form of good news, especially for South Africa’s personal income tax payers. The Minister quoted dismal local…  Read more

Budget 2024 effectively brought an increase in personal income tax by not adjusting the tables for tax rates, rebates and medical tax credits, while also implementing substantial increases in ‘sin’ taxes and introducing a proposed global tax on multinational companies. This selection of official SARS Tax Tables and other useful resources will help clarify your tax position for the new tax year. Then follow the link to Fin 24’s Budget…  Read more

07 March – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 25 March – VAT manual submissions and payments 27 March – Excise duty payments 28 March – End of the 2023/24 Financial year, Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments, & CIT Provisional payments where applicable. Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor…  Read more

“Provisional tax is merely a mechanism to pay the normal income tax liability during the tax year… an advance payment of a taxpayer’s normal tax liability.” (SARS) To provisional taxpayers, especially those who are liable for provisional tax in both their personal capacities and as business owners, it may well seem that there are endless provisional tax deadlines and payments to be made every year. There are indeed numerous income…  Read more

07 February – Monthly Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) submissions and payments 23 February – Value-Added Tax (VAT) manual submissions and payments 28 February – Excise Duty payments 29 February – CIT Provisional Tax payments 29 February – PIT Provisional Tax payments 29 February – Value-Added Tax (VAT) electronic submissions and payments Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any…  Read more

“SARS is willing and ready to assist taxpayers who want to be compliant. Where taxpayers willfully and intentionally ignore their legal obligations, SARS will act sternly.” (SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter) Businesses are often required to share their tax compliance status, for example for a tender application, bidding process or prequalification as a supplier; to confirm that their tax affairs are in order with SARS; to receive payment; or for foreign investment…  Read more