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Latest Posts in TaxTim's Blog

Navigating around your Discovery Medical Aid Certificate



1. Name of Medical Scheme
2. Medical Scheme Membership number
3. Number of members/dependents per month
4. Total contributions
5. Claims you paid personally that were not covered by the Medical Aid

 

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Navigating around your Camaf Medical Aid Certificate



1. Name of Medical Scheme
2. Medical Scheme Membership number
3. Number of members/dependents per month
4. Total contributions
5. Claims you paid personally that were not covered by the Medical Aid

 


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Navigating around your Bonitas Medical Aid Certificate



1. Name of Medical Scheme
2. Medical Scheme Membership number
3. Number of members/dependents per month
4. Total contributions
5. Claims you paid personally that were not covered by the Medical Aid


Navigating around your Bankmed Medical Aid Certificate



1. Name of Medical Scheme
2. Medical Scheme Membership number
3. Number of members/dependents per month
4. Total contributions
5. Claims you paid personally that were not covered by the Medical Aid

 

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The Dangers of DIY Tax: How to Avoid Disaster




Have you ever started one of those ‘oh, this’ll be easy’ Do-It-Yourself jobs, only to find yourself utterly frustrated half-way through wondering - what was I thinking? Pieces of wood cut just a few millimetres short of what they should’ve been. Holes drilled in the wrong places. Screwdrivers in every size except the one you need, missing bolts or the wrong colour paint! These DIY disasters can land up costing you much more time and money to salvage (or in the w...

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My refund was reversed by SARS: Why is this?




If you've ever found yourself confused as to why SARS has recalled your refund, even after they confirmed that you'd be recieving it, on a certain date. Below we've highlighted three reasons why this could be happening. 

• The auditing department might want to check your return again

Usually SARS' system automatically restarts a verification process on your tax return if one or more of your claims weren't explained in detail. This means, a whole new verification case will be created and SARS will ask you for the same documents you'd sent them before and you might have to wait another 60 days to get your refund. ...

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Finding your way around an IRP5



Consult the image above to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.

  1. PAYE number
  2. Income source codes
  3. Non-taxable income - source code 3696
  4. Gross Employment Income (taxable) – source code 3699
  5. Deduction source codes
  6. PAYE – source code 4102
  7. PAYE tax on lump sum benefit – source code 4115
  8. Employee and employer UIF contribution &...


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Finding your way around an IRP5



 Consult the image above to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.

  1. PAYE number
  2. Income source codes
  3. Non-taxable income - source code 3696
  4. Gross Employment Income (taxable) – source code 3699
  5. Deduction source codes
  6. PAYE – source code 4102
  7. Employee and employer UIF contribution – source code 4141
  8. Employer SDL contributio...


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Finding your way around an IRP5



 Consult the image above to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.

  1. PAYE number
  2. Income source codes
  3. Non-taxable income - source code 3696
  4. Gross Employment Income (taxable) – source code 3699
  5. Deduction source codes
  6. PAYE – source code 4102
  7. Employee and employer UIF contribution – source code 4141
  8. Employer SDL contributio...


Read more →

Finding your way around an IRP5



Consult the image above to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.
  1. PAYE number
  2. Income source codes
  3. Non-taxable income - source code 3696
  4. Gross Employment Income (taxable) – source code 3699
  5. Deduction source codes
  6. PAYE – source code 4102
  7. PAYE tax on lump sum benefit – source code 4115
  8. Employee and employer UIF contribution – ...


Read more →

Finding your way around a SARS IRP5



Consult the image below to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.
  1. PAYE number
  2. Income source codes
  3. Non-taxable income - source code 3696
  4. Gross Employment Income (taxable) – source code 3699
  5. Deduction source codes
  6. PAYE – source code 4102
  7. PAYE tax on lump sum benefit – source code 4115
  8. Employee and employer UIF contribution – ...


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Alert: file by 24 November or face heavy fines and potential legal action!




SARS has recently announced that it will be clamping down on taxpayers who miss the deadline to submit their tax return. Besides stating that they will carry out monthly fines for each tax return that is filed late, they have even gone so far as threatening criminal prosecution and time behind bars for unpaid tax debt.

This message, from SARS, comes in the wake of reports that it missed its first quarter tax collection target by R13.1 billion and if the trend continues, it will miss its overall revenue collection target by about R50 billion for 2017. ...

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HELP: SARS has requested me to submit an IT14SD



After you have submitted the Company tax return (ITR14), SARS may request you to complete an IT14SD.

The purpose of the IT14SD is to reconcile the information on the ITR14 to the VAT and PAYE submissions made during the year. The VAT information is made bi-monthly on the VAT 201 and the PAYE submission is made every month on the EMP201.

Below are some reasons why there may be reconciling differences between the ITR14 and the PAYE and VAT submissions. Remember, you only need to...

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The Tax Indaba 2017




The Tax Indaba is the largest annual gathering of tax practitioners, in-house tax staff members, government tax officials and tax academics. The Tax Indaba aims to involve all tax professional bodies in South Africa in order to add new variety and talent to benefit tax professionals who are seeking to refresh their knowledge and to learn about new tax-related developments.

To ensure continued relevance, the event is put together with the assistance of the whole tax community. The fiv...

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Unpacking the seemingly complex: Part-time and Casual Workers




One of the most often-misunderstood things is how tax on part-time and casual workers actually gets calculated. A topic often sparking a lot of debate, causing confusion too. A lot of people are taking on more than one job- if that isn’t already their only job- others opting for the part-time or casual work positions. Initially, whether you’re working as a full or part time employee you’re inclined to pay tax, SARS has noted out points which one should follow ...

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Delivery from SARS: Retirement Contributions Letter




So, you’ve recently submitted your tax return, received your assessment and were probably breathing a sigh of relief to be finished with the tax filing process for this year… then suddenly out of the blue you receive a confusing letter (**see bottom of page) referring to a “retirement contribution carry over balance”. You probably don’t even contribute to a retirement fund (i.e Pension, Provident or Retirement Annuity) which ends up making this letter seem even more confusing....

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Foreign Employment Tax Proposal




It seems like the tax season, this year, has brought about more changes and proposals than we could’ve ever imagined. In July 2017, the National Treasury announced further proposals to the Foreign Employment Exemption changes already announced in the February budget (see foreign employment blog). There has been a huge amount of confusion amongst taxpayers in South Africa and mainly those expats working out of South Africa....

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SARS ITR12 Updates



As you may be aware, SARS has implemented a few changes to the format of the tax return this year. One such change is the requirement for taxpayers to enter more details relating to their policies in the Medical and Retirement section.  The source codes used for 2017 have also had their fair share of changes too.

With that said, SARS recently highlighted some issues and technical hiccups on the new tax return relating to these updates. Below is a 'step-by-step' guide on how SARS would want you to handle these updates:

1...

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A Directors PAYE and UIF deductions



As a Director of a Company, your salary is subject to monthly PAYE and UIF deductions. Many small business owners don’t realise that if they operate their business through a company (Pty), the company needs to be registered as an employer with SARS.

This means, the company needs to deduct employee’s tax (PAYE) from the amounts paid to Directors. It’s also required to make monthly EMP201 submissions (this is the PAYE, UIF and SDL return) to SARS. The same applies even in the case of “owner managed” businesses -where there’s only one director and no employees...

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The low-down on Financial Statements for companies



With the launch of the Corporate Income Tax Return service for SME’s recently, there are questions around the requirement for companies to produce financial statements once they have filed their return. In particular, small business owners have been asking whether they need to engage an expensive professional to prepare them, or if can they be drafted and signed internally by their accountant/bookkeeper. There also seems to exist some confusion around the requirement for an audit versus an internal review. Below, we try and clear up some of the confusion around this topic. ...

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Which dividends are exempt from Dividend Withholding Tax?




There are certain dividends, which don’t attract dividends tax, provided some conditions are met. However, lets first take a step back and clarify what dividends tax is, and how it is calculated.

Dividends tax is a withholding tax, which is levied at 20% on dividend distributions. It is the obligation of the company paying the dividend to withhold the tax and pay it over to SARS. 

Depending on the nature or status of the dividend recipient (i.e. the party who receiv...

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Alert: Change to Provisional Taxpayer Rules



Currently, there is a legal obligation for South African resident employers to register with SARS for employee’s tax (PAYE) so they can withhold tax on a monthly basis from their employees’ salaries, and pay this over to SARS. However, the situation is different for foreign companies who employ South African residents. If these companies don’t have an office or a branch or some other legal representation in South Africa, they don’t have an obligation to register with SARS for PAYE...

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Unpacking the Budget Speech: proposed changes to foreign employment



Since the announcement of the 2017/2018 budget, TaxTim has been asked many times about the changes to the foreign employment income exemptions rules which could have a very negative effect on taxpayers working overseas.

Currently, if a South African resident works for a foreign employer and is out of the country for 183 days or more, within a 12 month period, and they fulfil various other conditions, their foreign employment income may be exempt from South African Income tax. Please ...

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Penalty FAQs



What is a recurring penalty? OR What are recurring SARS penalties? OR What does it mean to receive a penalty?
This is a penalty for non-submission of your returns in previous years. You need to see which returns you have not submitted and submit them ASAP. You also need to make payment to SARS for this penalty, but you would have to call them on 0800 00 7277 or log onto SARS eFiling to get a current statement of account and know exactly what they want from you.

Turnover Tax FAQs



What is the definition of tax threshold? Tax thresholds? SARS Threshold.
A Tax threshold is the lower limit of earnings at which tax needs to start being paid. So any income less than the current threshold, would not be taxed.

What is Turnover Tax? 
Turnover Tax is a simplified tax system only available to sole proprietors, partnerships, companies or close corporations with a “qualifying turnover” of less than R1m per year. These types of entities are called micro businesses....

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