JULY 2015: TAX FILING SEASON IS OPEN

The Beancounter •

As the great Jon Bon Jovi once sang in the hit Living on a Prayer: Woo-hoo we’re halfway there…

July already – 6 months gone and the year is on the downhill to December. The economy is not showing any sign of improving, the rand hit a 13 year low against the surging dollar and Greece is hoping for another bailout. Exciting but challenging times.

We did our own study and randomly selected 15 clients and looked at their own growth in the last year. The result stunned us – 21,6% up year on year. How is this possible when compared to the very low projected rate of 3% in South Africa?!

Any answer would be speculation but the opportunities are still out there. We need to adapt, improve and outperform competitors. And of course, successful business owners know they need to partner with successful service providers.

We are continiously striving to be better than what we were yesterday and we will never stop. Thanks for the opportunity to be able to serve you.

Here’s to the next 6 months…

The Beancounter

Tax Filing Season is Open

SARS’ annual tax filing season started on 1 July 2015.

An individual taxpayer whose total annual salary from one employer did not exceed R350,000 during the 2015 tax year and who did not have any allowances, deductions or additional income do not have to file a tax return.

Non-provisional taxpayers (most taxpayers fall into this category) who submit their tax returns manually or via the post, have to do so by 30 September 2015 and by 27 November 2015 if they are filing via the eFiling system.

And if you are a provisional tax payer, you have until 29 January 2016 to submit your return.

Taxpayers who use the services of a tax practitioner should ensure that the individual is registered with one of the recognised controlling bodies as well as SARS. This has been a regulatory requirement for the past two years.

Small businesses and BEE

With the new B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice gazetted on 11 October 2013, enterprises with an annual turnover less than R10 million qualify as an Exempted Micro Enterprise (EME) and are exempted from being measured on a BEE scorecard.

Any EME automatically qualifies as follows:

  • 100% black owned EME – level 1 BEE status
  • 51% or more black owned EME – level 2 status
  • Any other EME – level 4 status

An EME does not need a BEE certificate; an EME must however produce an affidavit declaring their turnover is less than R10 million and what their black ownership percentage is.

Thought BEE is difficult? Not when you small!

Accounting 101: Markup vs Gross Profit Percentage

Is there a difference? Absolutely. Markup and gross profit percentages are not the same and many business owners get them wrong! A clear understanding and application of the two within a pricing model can have a drastic impact on the bottom line. Terminology speaking, markup percentage is the percentage difference between the actual cost and the selling price, while gross proft percentage is the percentage difference between the selling price and the profit.

In Short and How To Calculate

Markup is a percentage of the cost.

Gross profit is the same amount expressed as a percentage of the selling price.

Example:

  • Item costs R100.00 and sells for R150.00.
  • Markup is R50 or 50% of the cost.
  • Gross profit is R50 but 33% of the selling price.

How to calculate:

  • Markup % = (Selling price – cost price) / cost price x 100
  • Gross profit % = (Selling price – cost price) / selling price x 100

Gross Profit vs Markup Chart

  • 15% Markup = 13.0% Gross Profit
  • 20% Markup = 16.7% Gross Profit
  • 25% Markup = 20.0% Gross Profit
  • 30% Markup = 23.0% Gross Profit
  • 33.3% Markup = 25.0% Gross Profit
  • 40% Markup = 28.6% Gross Profit
  • 43% Markup = 30.0% Gross Profit
  • 50% Markup = 33.0% Gross Profit
  • 75% Markup = 42.9% Gross Profit
  • 100% Markup = 50.0% Gross Profit

Tax deadlines in July

  • 1 July 2015 – Start of tax filing season
  • 7 July 2015 – EMP201 deadline for June 2015 returns
  • 24 July 2015 – VAT201 deadline for June 2015 returns filed manually
  • 31 July 2015 – VAT201 deadline for June 2015 returns filed via efiling
  • 31 July 2015 – Provisional tax returns for companies with a January/July yearend

Testimonial of the Month

When looking for a testimonial to use this month, we found so many kind words in our accountants’ mailboxes, that we’ve just copied some of them below.

Thank you very much for sending Ruan to us yesterday he was fantastic, very positive feedback from outside. He obviously knows his service offerings very well.

Craig? Schelin

Hi MJ. Ditto, I feel very comfortable knowing that you’re our assigned accountant. You are really efficient, detailed and polite, and I really appreciate that.

Jeremy Naidoo

This is absolutely excellent!!!! ? We are very impressed.

Beatrix Gething

Hi Marnus, You asked me yesterday how it was going and I told you that we were extremely happy to be working with Anina. She is always efficient, helpful and friendly and she is quickly getting into the swing of our business.

What I failed to say was how fantastic she was leading up to our B-BBEE Audit at the end of April. She prepared all the documents we required very quickly and timeously, which was essential to us getting our Certificate.

Lianne (my PA) works very closely with Anina and is very happy and confident with this relationship.

So, you have a very happy client.

Beryl Lutrin

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