Five Payroll Mistakes New Businesses Make
For new business owners in South Africa, launching an enterprise is an exciting milestone. However, once you hire your first employee, you step directly into one of the most heavily regulated environments in South Africa’s commercial landscape. A common trap for startup founders and small business owners is viewing payroll simply as “paying salaries at […]
A Corporate Tax Checklist for Business Owners
Submitting your company income tax return (ITR14) to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) involves far more than simply sending your trial balance to your accountant. Unlike individual tax submissions, corporate returns require detailed reconciliation across multiple operational tax types, including Value Added Tax (VAT), Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), and Provisional Tax. Missing key schedules or failing […]
Claiming Medical Scheme Tax Credits
Belonging to a registered medical scheme doesn’t just protect your health. It also comes with a built-in tax benefit. SARS refunds part of what you pay in medical scheme contributions through a system of tax credits, lowering your overall tax bill simply for staying covered. Do you know how it works, and if you qualify, […]
That SARS Alert Might Not Be Real
Tax season brings a predictable spike in SARS scams. When scrolling through your emails or messages, there’s a good chance a notification claiming to be from SARS is already waiting for you, whether it’s a tax refund you never filed for, or an urgent settlement demand designed to trigger panic. Four types of scams usually […]
SARS AI Audits: Why Your Accounting Partner is Your Best Defence
South African taxation has undergone a significant digital shift. As we move through 2026, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has firmly adopted a data-driven, risk-based approach to compliance, often described as “compliance by design.” The days of random spot-checks have been replaced by automated systems that analyse taxpayer information in real-time. SARS now relies […]
Understanding Residency in Terms of Tax
When earning an income in South Africa, you are probably paying tax. The Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (“the Act”) describes gross income as: “(i) in the case of any resident, the total amount, in cash or otherwise, received by or accrued to or in favour of such resident; or (ii) in the case […]
What’s In a Name?
The differences between an allowance, an advance, and a reimbursement are critical when it comes to tax. What’s the difference between an allowance, an advance, and a reimbursement? To many people, these are different terms for the same thing, but to SARS, the category that a payment falls into is critical when it comes to […]
Claiming Foreign Tax Credits
Back in the day when I was still running my tax practice full-time, I was called upon by a client to assist with the tax and accounting treatment of taxes withheld by a foreign country from income earned in that country—in this particular case, Botswana. The client’s query centred on the following two issues: Claiming […]
Long-term goals, or short-term gains?
More than a million applications have already been lodged with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to pull funds out of their savings. Given that this amounts to R21.4 billion, that’s a frightening amount of money for a country that doesn’t have a savings culture. What with more people withdrawing cash under the Two Pot […]
Five expensive payroll errors
These common PAYE errors could cost you dearly with SARS. With SARS continually seeking to increase its revenues however it can, organisations with misconceptions about how certain payroll elements should be taxed may unknowingly be exposing themselves financially. We often come across the following top five payroll errors that organisations need to question and correct […]