New Tax Could Be A ‘Goldmine’ For SA and Facebook Is Reportedly Changing Its Name
South Africa could be sitting on a tax revenue gold mine in the form of legal cannabis, says Ettiene Retief, chairman of the National Tax Committee at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA). Read the article here.
Why has Facebook changed its name to Meta and what is the metaverse?
Facebook has rebranded itself as Meta in an attempt to own the metaverse, a concept for a 3D version of the internet that a number of companies are working on. Read the article here.
Did You Know?
We have roughly the same number of clients based in the United Kingdom and Canada combined as we do in South Africa? Our team of qualified experts collaborates using Xero, Quickbooks and a host of other cloud-based systems with clients around anywhere in the world!
If you’re ever thinking of expanding to other geographies, feel free to chat to us.
Important Dates & Notices
General Dates
President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared Monday, 1 November 2021 – the date for local government elections – as a public holiday throughout the country. We hope you’ll do your part and go place your vote. Read more about it here.
Tax and Accounting Deadlines
Below are important tax deadlines to keep in mind for the month of September for individuals and companies.
Individuals
- Filing Season – Filing Season for individuals normally runs from July to November (for non-provisional taxpayers), with provisional taxpayers having until the end of January to file via eFiling.
- Provisional Tax – The filing and payment by individuals of provisional tax (IRP6’s) is 31 August (1st period), 28 February (2nd period) and 30 September (3rd period)
Employers (PAYE)
All businesses that are registered for PAYE, must follow the schedule below:
- Monthly – the EMP201 must be submitted monthly – by the 7th of the following month or the Friday* before that day if the 7th falls on a weekend or public holiday.
Companies
- Provisional Tax- The filing and payment by companies of provisional tax (IRP6’s) is 6 months after year end (1st period), At financial year end (2nd period) and Six months after financial year end (3rd period).
- For those companies that have a February year end, September is the month by which all top up payments need to be done.
VAT Vendors
- Electronic (eFiling) – submission of the return by the 25th and payment of the VAT201 by the last business day of the month.
Interim Reconciliation Season 2021
This year, the Employer Interim Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) submission period opens on 13 September 2021 and closes on 31 October 2021. During this period, employers are required to reconcile the payroll tax liabilities (PAYE, SDL and UIF) declared on their monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) for the first six months of a reconciliation year (1 March 2021 to 31 August 2021). The tax values of the interim IRP5/IT3(a) certificates are then generated to contain accurate payroll information, payroll tax payments made to SARS. This information is then completed on the Employer Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) and submitted to SARS.
If you’re not a monthly client and are in need of these returns being filed, contact us to arrange that we assist with these returns.
Tax Corner
Has your personal income tax return been selected for either verification or audit? Is there a difference?
SARS Verifications and Audits are two terms that are often used interchangeably but are, in fact, quite different processes.
Verifications are validation of the information declared on a return. SARS would issue a letter requesting supporting documentation to confirm the details provided. SARS’ turnaround time is 21 working days to complete the verification process upon receipt of the documents.
Should SARS not be completely satisfied with the information provided, SARS could elect to place the return under Audit. During this process, SARS will request additional information which in most cases is very detailed and specific. SARS will examine the information provided to determine the accuracy of the declaration. The turnaround time for audits is much longer – Up to 90 working days. You may have to wait much longer for that refund!
Regardless, with both processes it is very important to respond within the given time frames. If this does not happen SARS often adds back the relevant item (expense, VAT input, etc) and then it is an even longer process to the necessary correction made via an Objection, Appeal or other Corrective action.
Articles We Found Interesting
We often get the question, why Xero and why any cloud based system we suggest?
Beyond the obvious redundancy, flexibility, and expandability that systems in the cloud give you, an often under appreciated concept here is the reduction of friction.
I define business friction as how difficult it is for something to happen in a business. To make a sale, to get a loan, etc.
The biggest obvious friction removers with cloud based systems we see for clients are the following :
1 – Invoicing from anywhere, on any device
2 – Automated follow ups for overdue invoice (Cash is king!)
3 – Automatically creating invoice/recurring invoices depending on the business use case.
4 – Automated Bank feeds
5 – Automated document feeds (Pictures, emails all directly into the accounting system)
6 – Simple back office friction – Having all your records and finances in order.
To learn more about this topic please read through our article below.
https://cfo360.co.za/friction-in-business-how-to-streamline-processes-for-seamless-business/
Some More Interesting News…
- Elon Musk reclaims world’s richest person title from Jeff Bezos as Tesla’s stock hits 8-month-high
- Petrol is now R18.33 per litre – and 34% of that goes to taxes.
- How to set up a “smart home” on a budget.
- It’s not just Facebook – China’s big tech firms like Alibaba, Tencent also piling into the metaverse.
- 40 years ago, Aston Martin gave up plans to build world’s fastest car. Now they’re ready to try again.
Signing Off
The 60 day countdown to Christmas begins now, let’s do this!.
Wishing you a productive November. Take care and stay safe!
If you have any queries email us at [email protected].
