Written by Marc
Posted 16 May 2012
Did you know that it is your duty by law to register with SARS (the
South African Revenue Service) as a taxpayer if you earn above R63 556
per tax year? By registering and completing your tax returns regularly
each year, you will become a tax compliant, proud South African. You
can register for a tax number with SARS in person (at their offices in
all major centres), or send the required documents by post or email.
...
Written by Marc
Posted 30 March 2012
Taxpayers will no doubt notice a number of emails and letters from banks / financial advisors asking them to submit a form related to dividends tax. What is this all about?
Before 22nd February 2017, the following applied:
A new Dividends Withholding Tax or DWT has been created which replaces the old Secondary Tax on Companies (STC) from 1 April 2012. A shocking fact is that the new version is now a whopping 15%, up from 10%. So for every R1 declared as a dividend, you as the taxpayer, will only receive 85c. The remaining 15c will be paid over to SARS. ...
Written by Marc
Posted 23 February 2012
Eagerly anticipating the budget this year and forever the optimist, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan started off well: R9.5bn of individual tax savings and revenue collection up by R10bn from the latest estimates. However, for the individual taxpayer, things went slightly downhill from there... Let’s unpack this a bit.
Not all Doom and Gloom
Ok, ok so maybe I have been too harsh as only certain individuals (the richer ones) will actually be subject to greater tax, the lower end income earners will benefit quite a bit from the new tax changes...
Written by Marc
Posted 21 February 2012
The 2012 tax year has almost come and gone, and being annual budget time, anxious taxpayers are unsure what to expect. Is there any room to be taxed further? All will be revealed on Wednesday the 22nd, but in the meantime let's focus on the new medical aid tax regime.
Gone are the days of paying your spouse's medical aid and claiming the deduction just because you are in a higher tax bracket. From the 2013 tax year onwards that deduction is no longer allowed. Instead it will be replaced with a tax credit per dependent. "What is the difference?" I hear the average taxpayer ask, and "How does it affect me?"
...
Written by Marc
Posted 14 February 2012
There is this misconception that if one has an expense or makes a donation then “it can be claimed back from tax” While to the non-tax literate this may be true in a sense, having expenses or making donations for this purpose only, could actually backfire from a cash flow point of view. It is correct that you can claim the expense or the donation made as a deduction, this amount only comes off after all your income has been declared. So in affect it only reduces your taxable income and therefore the amount of tax paid...
Written by Marc
Posted 23 January 2012
There is a widely believed myth that all expenses and incomes of a business can lower taxes. The Taxable vs Accounting deductibility argument is one which will forever rage on. The question is: what is the difference?
Many countries around the world stick to a particular set of accounting standards released by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), while those same countries have their own individual tax laws. This leads to a difference between what’s allowable for tax purposes and what’s allowable for accounting purposes....
Written by Marc
Posted 16 January 2012
You always hear of people saying they are terrified of Tax and they just hand it over to some accountant who does it for them and they never actually see it until the next year when the whole process starts again. In most cases the accountant never even asks for any information and just submits a tax return based on a simple IRP5. Now that may be great for someone who earns a salary and has absolutely nothing else going on, tax related that is, but the poor ignorant taxpayer is potentially throwing away hundreds of Rands on an "expert" who isn't even doing their job properly. Not to mention the possible refund the taxpayer is missing out on. ...
Written by Marc
Posted 3 January 2012
Written by Marc
Posted 22 December 2011
Do Your Tax Return Easily