July Newsletter - Updates
/This is Anlo’s July Newsletter. If you would like to receive our newsletter, which has lots of great tips and updates, please add your email to the list! Simply subscribe by filling out the form.
We have the great pleasure of welcoming Sumaya to the team. She will be responsible for all of Anlo’s internal affairs and will make sure Anlo’s admin gets done in an efficient and timely manner. She is a mighty force of kindness and is a mom to a beautiful daughter.
We would also like to thank everyone for completing the survey that was sent out. This will really help us understand our clients’ needs in these strange times and also help us work on areas for improvement.
We have looked at our company values AGAIN 😊 because we believe in continuous improvement, and we are proud to list them below:
Respect
Growth Mindset
Nurturing
Ethical
Responsible
Interest Certificates Issued by SARS
A lot of you have received a tax certificate from SARS recently with an amount that should show the interest earned from overpayment/refund that was in SARS’s account. SARS has done this because the interest earned on monies in their statement of account at SARS should be included in your personal tax return.
This has never been done by SARS, nor has anyone ever though to include this interest in their tax return, but SARS has made this mandatory now and they will issue an additional assessment if this interest isn’t included in your ‘interest earned’ amount on your tax return. Please make sure that you forward this certificate to us with your supporting documentation.
Self-assessment Returns Received by SARS
SARS has issued self-assessments for some individuals, but not everyone. It seems that assessments have been issued for individuals who have limited ‘items’ that should be included, and whose tax affairs are straight forward.
We would like to remind people to check their self-assessment in details and make sure you agree with the assessment, because once you accept it, and if it subsequently emerges that there are errors, the only way to change it will be through an objection and that will be costly.
Simple Pay
We have started using a payroll program called SimplePay. It is a cloud payroll program that integrates well with Xero.
We find it to be really useful and employees can get access to their individual employee portal to update their leave, view payslips and update their personal details.
The best part for us as accountants, is that the salary journal is done automatically in Xero (if you use Xero), and all supporting schedules are included in Xero. This makes it easy to reconcile and should reduce errors.
We have also updated the packages prices on our website to include SimplePay as we feel this will improve our clients business processes and make our work a lot easier so that we can spend more than assisting the business owner or management.
Things we Would like to Remind People About
We have had an interesting few months with queries regarding business deductible expenses and we thought we will just share some of the main points to remember.
An expense is only deductible for tax purposes from your taxable income when you run a business and the expense claimed is for the production of income.
Things to please keep in mind is:
Your kids school fees are not a tax-deductible expense, even if your children will be working in your business.
Dogs expenses as security costs will not be considered a business expense.
If you buy a motor vehicle through the business, remember that any private use percentage must be added back on your tax calculation.
If you pay expenses for your staff or sub-contractors, the amount paid on their behalf should be included in the payroll and fringe benefit tax should be paid. This applies if you pay medical expenses because they got hurt on the job as well.
It is also particularly important to remember that the burden of proof lies with the taxpayer and presenting incorrect information to their tax practitioners does not and will not exempt them from a SARS enquiry. If this happens, it is the taxpayer who can be found liable and possibly prosecuted.
So please just be honest and direct with us and we will guide you legally and ethically. 😊😊
Free Accounting Software – Wave
We have recently started working with Wave and we thought it will be good to share our experience. Wave is completely free for unlimited users and supports the South African business community. Where you start paying is when you use the credit card payment tool, and this is only applicable in the United Kingdom and the EU. It does not process stock or inventory items and it is aimed at basic service businesses or consultants that want to send invoices and track their expenses. It links to your bank and daily bank feeds are pulled into the software.
It is user friendly and everything is where I think makes sense.
It also has a great mobile app, so you can scan your expenses on the go, and it will attach the image to the transaction.
It is a great alternative for small consulting and service-based businesses that are uncomfortable about paying a subscription monthly for accounting software and would like to keep costs low.
The user experience is a bit longer than Xero, but it does what it says it will, for free.
Have a look to see if you are interested or contact us for more information.
