Happy 2014! May this year be a successful and great one, both personally and for your business. As always, we are embarking on this new year planning to break new boundaries and exceed what we once thought was impossible.
2014 is our year for the customer, it will be our mission to go the extra mile and give you a service delivery that’s far beyond the industry average, to be your business partner who you can trust and rely on and ultimately, to help you take your business to the next level.
EXTRA BENEFITS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS
We keep your books up to date, we provide management accounts, we do tax planning and we keep your business compliant, but as a loyal customer to our firm, we always try to exceed that. Here are 4 services we provide free of charge to our retainer customers, which you might not know about:
1. Certify documents and affidavits – We are a Commissioner of Oaths and can certify documents as originals or can prepare an affidavit for you. No need to stand in a queue at the Police station – rather ask us.
2. Valuation on Properties – If you need a valuation done on any property, let us know and we can pull a “desktop” valuation for you. This valuation will show all the details about the property, comparative sales in the area and will give you an estimated market value. A great tool if you are planning to buy or sell.
3. Tax Clearance Certificates – We can apply on your behalf for a tax clearance certificate. This certificate is confirmation from SARS that all your tax affairs are up to date and are now regularly required by all government organisations, tender applications, etc.
4. Legal Agreements – We are by no means legal professionals and we can’t draft agreements for you but as a loyal customer, you can access our database with over 50 legal templates which you can use and change for your own purposes. This is valued at more than R150k!
EMPLOYMENT TAX INCENTIVE
If you are planning to employ low level staff or if you need someone junior in your organization but don’t really have the budget, then this will be a game changer. The Employment Tax Incentive is an incentive aimed mainly at encouraging employers to hire young and less experienced work seekers. It will reduce the cost to employers of hiring young people through a cost-sharing mechanism with government. The incentive was implemented on 1 January 2014 and is currently active.
Let’s save you all the technical details. To qualify you must be registered for PAYE and all your tax affairs must be up to date. The incentive is then calculated based on the number of qualifying employees you employee and the remuneration they are being paid.
An individual is a qualifying employee if he or she:
- has a valid South African ID or an asylum seeker permit;
- is 18 to 29 years old;
- is not a domestic worker;
- is not a “connected person” to the employer;
- was employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after 1 October 2013; and
- does not earn less than R 2000 per month/prescribed minimum wage for that sector.
The incentive is calculated as follows:
- Remuneration between R0 – R2000, 50% in the first 12 months and 25% in the 12 months thereafter.
- Remuneration between R2001 – R4000, R1000 in the first 12 months and R500 in the 12 months thereafter.
- Remuneration between R4001 – R6000, R1000 less 50% of the remuneration above R4000 in the first 12 months and R500 less 25% of the remuneration above R4000 in the months thereafter.
The total incentive for the month will then be deducted from your monthly PAYE liability. This is a great way to save tax and also to up skill the youth of our country. If you need more information on this, please feel free to contact your dedicated accountant.
TESTIMONIAL OF THE MONTH
This month we won’t be bragging with customer feedback, but instead show you a video Sage Pastel recently filmed of one of our clients and how we are changing businesses by going the cloud route:
[youtube id=”uibG7x51BnM” width=”560″ height=”315″]
It’s an honour to serve you!
The Beancounter Team
P.S. What do you think of the Employment Tax Incentive – it sure is a tax saver?
