By Rowan Burger from Momentum Investments
The benefits of saving your money are well known and encouraged by many financial institutions
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President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed South Africa for the fourth time on Thursday, 13 February 2020. The event commemorated the 30 year anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. As of 1 March 2020, South Africans working abroad will have to comply with the amended laws on expat tax. Amendments to the Income Tax Act includes the exemption of taxes up to the first R1 million per annum. There seem to be many confused taxpayers who have received a letter from SARS titled ‘Rejection of Revised ITR12’ which goes on to say that their revised return cannot be finalised because their assessment has already been finalised. The deadline for non-provisional taxpayers to file their tax return is just around the corner. Taxpayers have until 4th December to submit their return and avoid unwanted penalties and interest. We often receive questions from taxpayers as to how to structure their salary most efficiently for tax purposes. Unfortunately, the reality is that the days of employees gaining a tax advantage The deadline for 2019’s tax season is 4 December, just less than a month away, so it’s time to seriously focus on your tax returns. Last week, Tito Mboweni, the finance minister confirmed during his medium-term budget announcement When you retire, your soon to be ‘ex-employer’ might offer to continue to pay your medical aid. If you are one of the fortunate few to receive such a benefit, read on for some things to look out for: A few years ago, SARS introduced a new section onto the Tax Return called “Unemployed Periods.” Taxpayers are required to complete this section by entering all the times within the tax year they were not working. We receive many questions from taxpayers about how to declare their income in the event that they are married in Community of Property (CoP). From the 25th October 2019, the printed Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) will be substituted by the electronic Tax Compliance Status (TCS). This new digital version of the TCC allows for a more secure experience. When SARS has completed their audit, they send a letter called a Verfication of Asssment/Completion Letter. This has the following wording: VERIFICATION OF ASSESSMENT We refer to the verification of the assessment for the 20xx tax period. Please note that no adjustment has been made to this assessment. However, in terms of the Tax Administration Act the South African Revenue Service reserves the right to conduct further reviews in ... This is a common area of concern for many taxpayers who don’t know why they are asked to submit documents to SARS after they file their tax return. With the first provisional return still fresh in the minds of taxpayers, we thought it would be a good time to highlight some questions that were asked to our Helpdesk last month. We’ve recently received many questions from taxpayers asking us if we physically went into a SARS office to submit their returns manually. You have filed all your outstanding tax returns with SARS and when receiving your ITA34 assessment/ Statement of Account/ Penalty statement you notice that you owe SARS some tax. There are three main options available to you, if you want to make a payment to SARS. On 20 June 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the sixth parliament, and for the first time in years, we witnessed an uninterrupted SONA. And that is not the only first. For the first time, the SONA cost almost R2m, a staggering 47% lower than the cost of SONA 2018 and the lowest in five years. You may have heard the recent announcement from SARS that certain taxpayers who earn less than R500 000 per year don’t need to submit a tax return. However, this only applies under very specific conditions so it is extremely important to understand these fully if you think you may be affected. You can read all about this rule here. This year SARS are taking things one step further. They ... At TaxTim we receive many questions from taxpayers who pay medical aid for dependent family members and who want to know if they can claim for this in their tax return. When paying medical aid contributions for a ‘financial dependent’ the medical scheme fees tax credit applies in respect of fees paid by the person to a medical scheme. This means that the person who is paying the medical aid will receive the medical tax credits, and not the dependent/member of the medical aid. Who is a ‘dependent’?... TaxTim is seeing cases where taxpayers who had already submitted their documents in early July to SARS are, around ten days to two weeks later, receiving a further two letters from SARS requesting documents again. The one letter is the generic letter with the long list of documents, which was originally issued, while the second, contains a more specific request relating to the taxpayer’s tax return. Usually SARS issued an immediate assessment, however sometimes they do need to do a further manual check on their side. Often the reason for this is one of the following: Our helpdesk receives hundreds of questions from commission earners about how their tax is calculated. Many are also confused about which expenses they can claim. Hopefully our FAQ will help other taxpayers who might be puzzling over the same issues. Should the commiss... You may have seen the latest announcement by the SARS commissioner to increase the qualifying threshold for certain taxpayers to submit a tax return from R350 000 to R500 000. However as with all previous years, this only applies to certain taxpayers and so it is very important to check if you are one of these. The threshold applies to you only if you meet ALL of the criteria below:
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Expat Tax
Posted 14 February 2020
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TaxTim in People Magazine: Money Talks
Posted 7 January 2020
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'Rejection of Revised ITR12' - but my return is already finalised!
Posted 28 November 2019
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File by 4th of December to avoid penalties
Posted 22 November 2019
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Tax effects of your salary structure
Posted 11 November 2019
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Pay your taxes by 4 December or face the consequences
Posted 7 November 2019
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My medical aid is paid by my former employer: How does this affect my tax?
Posted 23 October 2019
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Unemployed Periods
Posted 14 October 2019
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Top Questions on Tax and Marriage
Posted 10 October 2019
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SARS terminates Tax Clearance Certificates from October 25th
Posted 9 October 2019
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TaxTim in Fairlady Magazine
Posted 7 October 2019
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Verification of Assessment - what now?
Posted 25 September 2019
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I've never been audited before. Why now?
Posted 17 September 2019
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Top Questions on Provisional Tax
Posted 13 September 2019
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Return Status ‘Filed through Branch’ " What Does This Mean?
Posted 13 September 2019
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Making payments to SARS
Posted 5 September 2019
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SONA 2019 - A Short Summary
Posted 23 July 2019
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SARS has done a ‘simulated calculation’ for me " what does this mean?
Posted 19 July 2019
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How to claim medical aid costs for a family member
Posted 19 July 2019
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Why is SARS requesting my supporting documents again?
Posted 15 July 2019
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What should I do if I have no assessment from SARS after having filed a return?
Posted 11 July 2019
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Top questions on Commission Earners
Posted 7 June 2019
1. I have a salary and earn a small commission; can I claim for my travel to and from work every day? (The commission is based on the sales that my team makes telephonically per month).
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Clarifying the tax return threshold set by SARS
Posted 4 June 2019
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