You are doing well. You are earning enough money to cover your monthly expenses, and have some extra cash remaining at the end of each month. You could keep that money in the bank for a rainy day, or you could invest it, with the hopes of growing your savings significantly. This guide aims to help you understand why investing is important, how investments differ and what options are available to you in South Africa.
Your money does not keep it's va...
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We are starting to see some common trends whereby taxpayers’ expenses are disallowed because the documents submitted are falling short of SARS’s requirements. To avoid unnecessary frustration and time wasted in raising disputes, read on to see if any of these areas apply to you.
Travel deduction
In prior years, the submission of a logbook detailing your business mileage used to be sufficient to justify your travel claim. In recent years howev...
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By Josh Kaplan - OneSpark
Life insurance: it sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry, right? However, just like that fresh coat of paint protects your walls from wear and tear, life insurance is all about protecting your loved ones from the financial burdens that could pop up in your absence.
If you've ever been out to dinner with friends and spent more time figuring out how to split the bill than actually enjoying your meal, then you'll understand why ...
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The thought of buying a house can be daunting. It might seem almost impossible when you are just getting started. But like any financial goal, you can achieve it if you understand what's involved, and break the process up into small, bite-size steps.
Buying your first home is also exciting! Choosing where you will live, how many rooms you need, what colour to paint the walls, and what furniture to fill it with are part of the fun. Use that excitement to get you through the admin involved....
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The 2023 filing season opens this year at 8pm on Friday, 7 July. The countdown's on, it's almost here!
It is important to be aware that the season is shorter than prior years. This means that SARS are giving you less time to file your return.
Important Filing Deadlines
23 October 2023: non-provisional taxpayer (i.e. salaried employees)
24 January 2024: provisional taxpayer (i.e self-employed, rental earners, freelancers, ...
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Last year, we noticed that many taxpayers filed their tax returns before the tax season officially began (i.e July). However, doing so caused delays and problems with their tax refunds.
There are only three specific instances where you can file your tax return (ITR12) directly on eFiling before tax season starts:
TaxTim and SARS use all the financial information you provide to work out the most accurate estimate of your potential refund (or tax liability) for the current tax season. However, there may be some information we don’t have access to that won’t be included in the estimate of your tax refund or tax liability.
Information from previous tax seasons
Just like the SARS eFiling tax calculator, TaxTim doesn’t take into account provisional tax ...
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You’ve been diligent with your tax obligations, you’ve paid your PAYE (employees tax) each month without fail, you’ve kept all the supporting documents for your deduction claims and you’ve carefully filled out your tax return, making sure you’ve put all the right amounts in all the right places, against all the right codes. (Pssst, if you used TaxTim to help you complete your tax return, you wouldn’t have had to worry about all the right places and codes because that’s all automated for you)...
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SARS has given you just 40 working days to submit your tax return. If you received your auto-assessment at the beginning of July, your time to submit has already expired. Auto-assessments issued on 4 July 2022, expired on 30 August 2022. Count your work days carefully. SARS is applying this rule very strictly. If you do nothing, your auto-assessment will very soon become FINAL.
For more on auto-assessments and their deadlines, please read Read more →
Are you confused about whether your company should file a dormant return or a normal ITR14 for companies? It's understandable - dormancy can be a tricky concept to navigate. It's important to understand that the type of tax return you need to file depends on when your company became dormant. But don't worry, we're here to help you figure it out!
First things first, what is a dormant company?
A dormant company is a company which is registered with the ...
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If you've registered a company with CIPC some time ago and forgot about it, that company could land you in hot water with SARS. Even if the company is not actively trading and has no assets or liabilities, you still have a duty to submit its tax returns to SARS. Failure to do so can result in administrative penalties that ...
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Imagine you’re an estate agent or luxury car salesman. Chances are that you don’t earn much (if anything) as a basic salary and you rely on a few big deals and commission payments to keep you afloat during quieter months.
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Training and development for employees plays a vital role in the growth and success of your business. But, finding affordable and correct tools might be where the concerns start creeping in. Suddenly you’re left thinking… “They’ll learn on the job. Resources are limited.”
Fortunately, you’d be pleased to know that the learnership allowance is intended to be an incentive for employers to encourage skills development within their workforce, with the hope to create jobs and economic growth....
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The South African government introduced tax-free savings back in 2015 to encourage household savings. As the name suggests, all of the proceeds from tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), including interest, capital gains and dividends are exempt from tax. This makes these types of investments extremely attractive for South African taxpayers.
Tax-free savings are an investment vehicle created to help South Africans reduce their tax liab...
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Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, delivered his second budget speech to South Africans yesterday. The energy crisis played centre stage with the minister announcing that the government will take over a large part of Eskom's debt. He also outlined two major tax incentives to encourage individuals and businesses to invest in renewable energy and independent electricity generation. Much to everyone's relief, he went on further to announce that there would be no major tax proposals for the year...
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Retirement annuities are tax-smart investments that help you to save for life after your nine-to-five. You generally can’t withdraw these funds before you turn 55, but you may be able to do so if you’ve emigrated from South Africa.
A retirement annuity – or RA for short – is an investment vehicle designed to help people living and working in South Africa save towards retirement. It can be used as a...
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This year, SARS has once again ‘auto-assessed’ a large number of taxpayers. They have done this using data that they have received from 3rd parties, such as employers, financial institutions, medical schemes and retirement fund administrators.
If you have been auto-assessed, you should receive an email or SMS from SARS within the first few weeks of July. If your auto-assessment shows that you are due a tax refund, we are seeing SARS pay out these refu...
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If you received another email from TaxTim requesting SARS supporting documents, but you already sent these to SARS more than 21 business days ago, one of these four scenarios might be the reason you are still waiting:
Scenario 1:
You submitted the documents directly on SARS eFiling yourself, but you did not inform TaxTim. In this case, our system needs to be updated to reflect that you already submitted your documents.
Please log into your TaxTim profi...
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Tick-tock, time is running out for non-provisional taxpayers to submit their 2022 tax return. The filing deadline of 24 October 2022 is just around the corner.
Provisional Taxpayers: your tax return filing deadline is 23 January 2023. Breathe easy.
If you ‘think’ you are a Provisional Taxpayer, we strongly suggest you make 100% sure you me...
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The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it will implement an "online traveller declaration system" that will go into effect on November 1, 2022. According to SARS, the new system will be applicable to all South Africans travelling abroad and says that it will simplify passenger movement at South African airports.
According to SARS, the system's goal is to collect travel information and in exchange, grant a traveller pass via email. It requires that all South Africans and residen...
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Step 1: Please log into your SARS eFiling profile
Step 2: Click on "Home" on the top menu
Step 3: Click on "SARS Registered Details" and then on "Maintain SARS Registered Details" on the l...
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Step 1:
Log into your SARS eFiling pofile.
Step 2:
Navigate to your Tax Return which was auto-assessed.
You can do this by clicking "Returns" (top menu), then "Returns History" (side menu), then "Personal Income Tax ITR12" , then select the the relevant ITR12.
You will see the
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Too often, taxpayers rush when completing their tax return, and then they miss out on some expenses they are eligible to claim. Don’t overpay tax by overlooking these seven common tax breaks.
Contributions towards a Retirement Annuity
Your contributions towards retirement funds are deductible for tax up to a limit of 27,5% of the greater of your taxable income or remuneration (to a maximum of R350,000 per year). This limit applies to the total contributions you make to any Pension, Provident or Retirement Annuity (RA) fund during the year...
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From 1 July to 4 July, SARS aims to issue auto-assessments to taxpayers who are due a refund.
The rest will be issued in batches up to 24 July.
Timing is Everything
If you receive an auto-assessment, you will have just 40 working days to request a tax return on TaxTim (or eFiling), complete and submit it. If you take no action within the ...
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The 2022 filing season opens on 1 July. Tick tock. That’s just around the corner.
It is important to be aware that the season is shorter than prior years. This means that SARS are giving you less time to file your return.
Important Filing Deadlines
24 October 2022: non-provisional taxpayer (i.e. salaried employees)
23 January 2023: provisional taxpayer (i.e self-employed, rental earners, freelancers, etc)
Auto-Assess...
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