“Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.” (F.J. Raymond)

SARS offers a range of rebates, incentives and deductions that can significantly reduce the tax you need to pay, if you know where to look. The challenge is knowing which ones will apply to your situation this Tax Filing Season 2026 (covering the period between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026) and how to claim them correctly.

We’ve put together handy (but by no means exhaustive) lists for individuals and businesses.

For individuals

Thanks to rebates available to taxpayers, you only start paying tax when you earn more than a certain amount. For the 2026 Tax Season, that amount is R95,750 if you are under age 65 (increased to R99,000 for the 2027 tax year). The thresholds are much higher for those aged between 65 and 75 and those older than 75. These are automatic rebates that reduce the tax you pay before any other relief is applied.

Medical scheme contribution tax credits provide a monthly rebate for the main member and first dependent, plus lower amounts per month for each additional dependent. If your medical expenses exceed a certain threshold, you may also qualify for additional medical tax credits based on your total out-of-pocket medical costs for the year.  

Interest from a South African source up to R23,800 per annum is exempt from income tax when earned by any natural person under 65 years of age (R34,500 over 65) or a deceased estate.

Retirement fund contributions to a registered pension, provident or retirement annuity fund are deductible up to 27.5% of the greater of your taxable income or remuneration, calculated as per the income tax rules, capped at R350,000 per year (increased to R430,000 for the 2027 tax year). This is one of the most powerful ways to lower your tax bill while building long-term savings.

Tax-free savings accounts remain one of the simplest ways to build wealth tax-efficiently. All returns, including interest, dividends and capital gains, are 100% tax free. The annual contribution limit for the 2026 tax year was R36,000 (increased to R46,000 for the 2027 tax year), and the lifetime limit is R500,000.

If you work from home and have a dedicated home-office area used for your trade, you may be able to deduct a portion of your rent, utilities, rates and wear-and-tear on office furniture or equipment on a pro-rata basis. The rules are specific, and there are potential downsides to claiming, so professional guidance is recommended.

Donations to section 18A-approved organisations are deductible up to 10% of taxable income calculated in accordance with legislation. Any excess is carried forward to the following tax year.

For businesses

Small Business Corporations (SBCs) benefit from tax relief including immediate write-off of qualifying new plant or machinery, significantly reducing taxable income in years when you invest in equipment, as well as a wear-and-tear or accelerated allowance on other depreciable assets and a progressive tax rate that can deliver substantial savings for qualifying smaller businesses.

Micro businesses (turnover of R1 million or less, upped to R2.3 million for 2027) may qualify for a simplified turnover tax, instead of the usual taxes payable by companies, such as income tax, provisional tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

There are also specific accelerated depreciation allowances for manufacturing and other assets used in the production of renewable energy.

Employers who register SETA learnership agreements qualify for additional tax deductions beyond the actual training cost, reducing taxable income while building skills.
Qualifying research and development costs are 150% deductible, with accelerated depreciation on R&D machinery and capital assets.

Other deductions worth noting include the Urban Development Zone allowance, the Special Economic Zones incentive offering a reduced corporate tax rate of 15%, and a potential accelerated building allowance for new and unused buildings and improvements to a building at 10% of cost per year. Business owners aged 55 or older might also qualify for a capital gains exemption when selling a business. 

Do you qualify?

These are just some of the rebates, deductions and incentives available for the 2026 Tax Season. The difference between a good tax outcome and a great one often comes down to knowing which relief measures apply and how to claim them correctly. Our team stays on top of every change, so you don’t have to.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

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“True leadership is measured by what happens after you die.” (Myles Munroe)

Most business owners believe that their personal will has the business covered too, but that’s usually not the case.

First things first, your valid, updated Last Will and Testament (i.e. your personal will) must clearly state your instructions regarding the distribution of your business assets in your estate, be they company shares, member interest, or 100% of a sole proprietorship. Without this, your business assets will be distributed under the rules of intestate succession.

But that’s not the end of the story…

Firstly, the actual transfer of ownership in a business, even as dictated in a valid, updated personal will, remains subject to the company’s structure and its governing documents. If the company’s Memorandum of Incorporation (“MOI”) or Shareholders’ Agreement includes specific rules for the transfer of shares upon death, these rules must be followed. 

Secondly, a “business will”, commonly called a shareholder’s agreement, a buy-and-sell agreement, or succession plan, is essential. It focuses specifically on the company’s success when you or other partners or shareholders are no longer there.

It should answer questions like who steps in to run things, who is entitled to buy shares, and at what price. And it typically includes insurance to cover the costs of appointing key people and the agreed share sales price when the time comes.

Why you need one…

Having a properly structured (and regularly updated) business will is important because:

• It prevents operational paralysis when the owner is no longer there. Without a clear plan, bank accounts can be frozen, signing authorities revoked, and employees left stranded without leadership.
• It helps to prevent family and partner conflict by eliminating guesswork between grieving family members who inherit paper value and business partners who need operational control.
• It secures fair valuation and liquidity, working with funding mechanisms like life insurance to ensure your estate receives fair market value for your shares immediately, rather than forcing a fire sale.
• It protects your legacy by ensuring the core vision, values, and strategic direction you built are smoothly transitioned to chosen successors.

And why you need to update it regularly

Having an up-to-date business will keeps your business positioned to take advantage of changing tax legislation. A current example is the increased capital gains tax (CGT) exemption for small business owners aged 55 and older who sell their businesses. For many business owners, the sale of their business is their primary retirement asset. The increased CGT exemption means more business owners now qualify for meaningful tax relief when they exit. The exemption is determined on an asset-by-asset basis, and each asset must have been held continuously for at least five years before disposal.

A well-structured and continuously updated business will ensures your succession plan aligns with these conditions so that you and your estate can benefit from the relief available.

Types of business wills

• A shareholders’ agreement can impose conditions on the transfer of shares, often taking into account the interests of the remaining shareholders, such as restrictions and approvals on transfer, pre-emptive rights and forced buyouts. Please note that the shareholders’ agreement must comply with the Companies Act and be consistent with the company’s MOI.
• A buy-and-sell agreement is sometimes referred to as a “business will” because it allows business owners to govern the relationship between the respective shareholders and to outline who will take over their shares in the business and at what price in the event of their death or retirement.
• A succession plan is a strategic business process to ensure continuity by preparing contingency plans for when key people in critical roles leave, retire, or pass away. It’s a good idea to include “key man” insurance to cover the costs involved. 

Protect your business and your family

To circumvent the problems created by cash shortfalls, business owners are also encouraged to have personal investments outside of the business. A retirement annuity may be a sensible option since its proceeds generally enjoy significant protection from creditors, although access to the funds is restricted and they should not be regarded as a source of immediate liquidity. A life policy specifically structured to cover business debts can also make a significant difference.

The key is to work with financial, tax and legal advisers who understand the full picture. A business will that is reviewed and updated regularly – particularly when tax legislation changes, business value shifts, or ownership structures evolve – ensures your plan remains implementable and your beneficiaries are not left with a document that no longer fits the reality of your business. The cost of professional advice is small compared to the cost of getting it wrong.

The time is now

National Wills Month is the ideal time to review whether your business is properly protected – and whether your existing plan is still fit-for-purpose.

Our team is ready to review your estate planning, your personal will and your business succession and exit strategy. We will help you structure a plan that protects what you have built.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

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“The future of business isn’t about doing more with less. It’s about doing what matters with more intention, alignment, and flow.” (Chais Meyer, business founder and consultant)

We all read the brochures. Automation was going to offer us a future where laborious and repetitive tasks were all handled instantly without human intervention. Jobs that used to take weeks would now take hours. Businesses rushed to automate every task they could in search of this promised utopia of lower wage bills and greater efficiency. But now, just a few years later, retailers are reopening staffed tills, customer-service teams are restoring human support, and executives are rethinking whether every process should be handed to software.

Is it time for your business to go back on automation? Here are the signs.

Customers keep asking for human help

One of the clearest warning signs is persistent demand for human help. According to HubSpot and SurveyMonkey, 53% of consumers actively dislike or hate AI in service interactions, and 82% would still prefer human support even if the outcome and waiting time were identical. Five9 separately found that 86% of consumers rate empathy and human connection as more important than speed. For businesses, that matters because automation often looks efficient internally while feeling obstructive externally. If customers repeatedly seek an employee after going through a bot, menu or self-service loop, the system may be reducing convenience rather than improving it.

Your conversion percentages have been falling

In some settings, the mere presence of a human fallback improves commercial outcomes. A Management Science study examining a credit union’s self-service loan-approval process found that inviting customers to connect with a human loan agent increased the uptake of approved loans by 24%. Crucially, very few customers actually used the option, they just liked having it there. The finding suggests that access to human support can reduce anxiety, improve trust and make customers more comfortable completing important decisions. For firms operating in finance, healthcare, education, legal services or any emotionally charged sector, full automation may damage performance even when the process appears technically sound.

Your staff spends their time rescuing broken journeys

Automation often fails by pushing complexity downstream to employees. Payments service Klarna became one of the most visible examples of that correction. After loudly promoting an AI assistant that handled large volumes of customer chats, the company later moved to bring more people back into customer service, because, as its spokesperson put it, AI brings speed while people bring empathy.

If you find your team members are constantly stepping in to correct chatbot confusion, soothe irritated customers or solve exceptions the system cannot handle, not only is automation not saving work, it’s ruining your relationship with your customers as well.

Shrinkage, theft or abandoned sales

Retail offers perhaps the clearest example of automation being scaled back for hard commercial reasons. NBC News reported that Dollar General eliminated self-checkout at about 12,000 stores, and Five Below removed it in some high-risk locations. The common thread was not nostalgia for staffed tills; it was concern over shrinkage, scanning errors, and difficult customer experiences. While your business might be saving on staffing, if it’s losing margin through mistakes, misuse, walkaways or required oversight, the costs are simply being reallocated.

Is your business better?

In routine, low-stakes tasks, automation can be enormously useful. But where trust, nuance or reassurance matter, evidence increasingly shows that businesses need visible human support. The companies rethinking automation simply recognise that efficiency only counts when it improves the customer experience and frees people up to do higher-value work. If it damages trust, degrades quality or creates hidden costs, it is not smart automation at all.

Ultimately, the question to ask yourself is not whether a task can be automated, but whether the business improves after it is. It’s vital that after a move to automation, you keep a keen eye on the numbers. As your accountants, we can help.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

The post Some Companies are Going Back on Automation. Should you? appeared first on Balmon.

“In my travels across the globe, I’ve come to believe that Franz Kafka wasn’t writing fiction but rather a traveller’s guidebook.” (Ned Donovan)

South Africans and foreigners crossing our border (on arrival and departure) are now required to complete one more step before they travel: an online declaration to SARS covering goods, cash and other items in their possession. The system, which is already in place across South Africa’s air, land and sea borders, became compulsory from 1 July 2026 and is part of a broader push to digitise customs controls and tighten oversight at the border.

A flurry of conspiracies

Since the announcement, social media has been flooded with conspiracy theory videos alleging ulterior motives. But the documentation released by SARS reveals travellers need not fear: this new requirement is not an income-tax filing in disguise. The available guidance makes clear that it is a customs measure aimed at simply improving how travellers declare goods, currency and other regulated items when entering or leaving the country.

So, what’s really going on?

SARS says the online process replaces much of the old manual declaration system and is intended to make compliance easier, create a smoother traveller experience and strengthen risk management at ports of entry. In practice, that means customs officials receive information earlier and can respond before a traveller reaches the inspection point.

The system asks travellers to submit their details before travel, including passport information, travel plans, contact details and the names of companions. Adults must also complete declarations for children or infants travelling with them. Once the form is submitted, the traveller receives an electronic confirmation by email. That confirmation must be kept on a mobile phone or printed out, and it contains instructions on what to do at the port of entry or departure. Travellers arriving in South Africa are directed through customs according to those instructions, while departing passengers may be told whether they need to report to customs before leaving.

When will it impact you?

For businesspeople and frequent travellers, the commercial significance lies in what must be declared. Ordinary personal belongings such as clothing, a phone or a laptop for personal use do not need to be listed. But goods above duty-free thresholds, items intended for resale or business use, and cash above the legal limits do. The guidance provided in the source material states that goods with a value up to R5 000 per person are duty-free, while goods above that level may trigger duty and VAT, with normal customs duty and VAT applying above R25 000. Cash above R100 000 must also be declared.

The rules haven’t changed, the method of declaration has. A traveller returning with expensive goods, a businessperson carrying samples, or an entrepreneur moving stock across the border may all face duties, VAT or reporting obligations depending on what they are carrying. The online declaration gives SARS a digital record in advance and gives travellers a clearer process to follow.

Tried and tested

SARS says the system was first piloted at OR Tambo, Cape Town International and King Shaka airports in 2022 before being expanded nationally. The message to travellers is straightforward: border declarations have moved online, and failing to declare goods or giving false information could lead to delays, penalties or the seizure of goods. For anyone crossing South Africa’s borders, customs compliance is now a digital-first process.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

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“Provisional tax is merely an advance payment of a taxpayer’s normal tax liability.” (SARS)

For many taxpayers, it feels as if you’re making income tax payments all the time.

It’s not far from the truth because, in South Africa, provisional taxpayers make two compulsory payments (and possibly a third voluntary payment) each year. And that’s even before the annual income tax deadline in January of the following year, when any further tax liability will become due. 

As a result, there are numerous deadlines that overlap across tax years. Yes: it is confusing, as the table below illustrates. But there’s no point throwing your arms up in the air: provisional tax non-compliance is met with some of the harshest penalties imposed by SARS.

Provisional and income tax timelines

Who are ‘provisional taxpayers’?

• All companies except those specifically excluded
• Any person who earns income which is not remuneration, an allowance or advance or who earns remuneration from an employer not registered for employees’ tax except those specifically excluded
• A labour broker with an exemption certificate
• Any person notified by the Commissioner of SARS

Why must provisional tax be paid?

Provisional tax payments are like instalments on taxpayers’ annual income tax, paid in advance and spread over two or three payments during the year. These payments are deducted against any tax owing after the year’s final income tax return is filed – at which point any further tax liability will then become due.

The objective is to prevent taxpayers from facing large income tax liabilities that are only revealed at the end of the year of assessment. 

How is provisional tax declared and paid?

• Provisional tax payments are calculated on estimated taxable income, including current taxable capital gains, for that particular year of assessment.
• The estimates, says SARS, must be determined sensibly and by careful reasoning and judgment, in a mathematical manner, and using experience, common sense and all available information.
• The first period estimate is forward-looking, requiring companies to estimate their taxable income for the year ahead and then to pay tax on this estimate in advance.
• In contrast, the second period provisional return is retrospective, since by the year-end there is more certainty regarding the income for the year, and the tax due thereon.
• These estimates of taxable income are submitted to SARS on an IRP6 return, which must be submitted by all provisional taxpayers for the first and second periods.
• Even if you or your company owes no tax, a ‘nil’ return showing taxable income is equal to zero must still be filed on time.
• If an IRP6 is filed more than four months after the deadline, SARS considers a ‘nil’ return to have been submitted, and unless the actual taxable income is really zero, this will result in penalties.
• Accurate records of all the calculations and source documents used must be kept as SARS can ask for the estimate to be justified and, if dissatisfied with the amount, increase the estimate.

Do call on our professional assistance

All taxpayers are ultimately responsible for their tax affairs, even though provisional tax is particularly daunting and confusing, with so many overlapping deadlines, complex requirements and harsh penalties.

Expert tax advice is highly recommended to ensure compliance with the requirements and the filing and payment deadlines. You know who to call.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

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“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” (Henry Ford)

Bad decisions are a near-universal leadership experience. A 2023 study of more than 14,000 employees and business leaders across 17 countries, commissioned by Oracle, found that 85 percent of business leaders have suffered from what the researchers called “decision distress” (regretting, feeling guilty about, or actively questioning a decision made) in the past year. The same study found that 72 percent of business leaders admitted they had, at some point, given up on making a decision altogether because the available data felt overwhelming. Decision-making, in other words, is hard for everyone.

What separates leaders who recover and grow from those who stall is not the absence of bad calls. It is the quality of their response.

Own it before it owns you

The most consistent thread running through research on leadership recovery is the importance of accountability. The instinct to go quiet or minimise the impact when a decision backfires is understandable, but it can also be expensive. Once an error is noticed, credibility is far harder to restore than it would have been had the leader simply spoken plainly from the outset. The fastest route to rebuilding trust is not spin, but ownership.

Diagnose the root, not just the symptom

The second step, and one that leaders under pressure are most tempted to skip, is genuinely understanding why the decision went wrong. Surface-level post-mortems, such as “we moved too fast”, or “we didn’t have enough data” only produce surface-level corrections. Durable improvement requires tracing the failure back to its actual structural cause. Was it a flawed decision-making process? Groupthink? A blind spot about the customer? Or an incentive structure that rewarded the wrong behaviour?

Denis Liam Murphy, leadership consultant and author of The Blame Game, argues that leaders need to develop what he calls “real-time hindsight”, the discipline of reflecting immediately and honestly on what a decision revealed, rather than waiting for a formal review cycle.

The Schultz playbook: Structural recovery at scale

When Schultz returned to Starbucks as CEO in January 2008, he inherited the consequences of decisions made during a period of aggressive over-expansion. The company’s stock had declined approximately 70 percent from its 2006 peak, and 600 stores were closed across 2008 and 2009. As a Harvard Business School case study on the turnaround later documented, Starbucks had drifted from the core identity that had made it successful: the experience, the craft, and the culture.

Schultz’s recovery was not built on a single dramatic gesture. It was built on a systematic return to first principles: closing 7,100 US stores for a single afternoon in February 2008 to retrain baristas, investing in the quality of the product, and making a deliberate, public commitment to slowing down in order to grow sustainably. The recovery that followed became a business school case study not because the error was unusual, but because the response to it was disciplined, transparent, and impactful in a way that resonated with the customer base.

Build the lesson into the system

The next step in the process is to build the mechanisms which help prevent mistakes from going too far into the system. This means creating what practitioners sometimes call a “failure loop”, a deliberate process for reviewing decisions, documenting what was learned, and feeding those lessons back into future decision-making frameworks.

The practical application for any business is straightforward: after a significant misstep, write down what happened and what should have been done differently. Share it with the team. Make the lesson available to the organisation, not just the person who made the call.

Resilience is not indifference

All this advice comes with a warning. Once making errors becomes consigned to a system, it opens up the possibility of leaders accepting errors as common, processing them efficiently and therefore, becoming indifferent to their impacts. On the surface this can look like emotional stoicism, but that is neither realistic nor effective. Obviously, mistakes should be avoided at all costs.

Murphy’s research points to three foundations of genuine leadership resilience: psychology, self-care, and a support network. The first is the capacity to frame struggle as information rather than verdict. The second is giving yourself the actual time and space to recover. The third is having people around you who will tell you the truth.

None of that is soft advice. The studies show that a leader who burns through a failure without adequately processing it is actually more likely to repeat it. The goal is not to feel nothing, but to feel clearly, learn quickly, and move with intention.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

The post Everyone Makes Them: Here’s How to Recover from a Bad Business Decision appeared first on Balmon.

“SaaS spend increases without founders noticing because subscriptions renew automatically, ownership is unclear, and usage is rarely reviewed as teams change.” (Michael Pantilione)

From communication channels, to shared workspaces, AI chatbots and design services, companies are aware that they are paying more for monthly subscriptions than ever before. Research, however, suggests that most firms have no idea how deep the problem goes.

The Zylo 2026 SaaS (Software as a Service) Management Index reported that the average large organisation manages 305 separate software applications. Forty-six percent of those licences sit unused at any given time, representing approximately $19.8 million in wasted annual expenditure for the average enterprise. And it’s not just a problem affecting larger businesses. According to the report, the average British SME is estimated to waste as much as R250 000 a year on software that isn’t being actively used.

These figures reflect more than careless purchasing decisions. They are a predictable consequence of how cloud software is designed to be sold, distributed, and renewed. SaaS vendors have built their distribution models around frictionless adoption and auto-renewals. For organisations that lack formal governance over their software portfolios, this dynamic produces a cost base that grows by default, irrespective of whether the tools in question are delivering measurable business value.

Why oversight fails

The central driver of SaaS creep is decentralisation. Over the past decade, purchasing authority for software has migrated steadily away from IT and finance functions and towards individual business units. The Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index found that business units now control 81% of total SaaS spend, while IT departments directly manage just 15%. In a small business, where procurement processes are typically informal and financial controls on software purchasing are loosely enforced, this dynamic is even more pronounced.

In short, no single department maintains visibility across the full portfolio. The Marketing team acquires its own tools, Operations purchases its own platforms, and individual team members subscribe to productivity applications on corporate expense accounts. According to Productiv, approximately 48% of enterprise applications are effectively unmanaged, meaning no one in the organisation is tracking renewal dates or monitoring active usage.

Each purchasing decision is locally rational. But collectively, they produce a software stack which is almost impossible to fully understand, manage or audit.

The renewal mechanism

Automatic renewals compound the problem. SaaS vendors have no interest in identifying underutilised licences ahead of renewal as exercising the contractual right to reduce or cancel rests entirely with the buyer.

Are there solutions?

The only way of making sure you don’t become a victim of SaaS creep, is to take control of the issue and focus on visibility, ownership, and timing. Complete visibility means knowing every active subscription in the portfolio: what it costs, who authorised it, and whether it’s being used. As your accountants, we can help you conduct a full audit of subscriptions, and put together a list of just what’s being deducted and for which service. Once you know what you are subscribed to, you can decide what to keep and which to cull.

Following on from this, it’s vital to assign someone from each team to oversee subscriptions. This person needs to make the ultimate purchasing decisions, and must maintain a complete list of subscribed services. This way, subscriptions can become an element of employee onboarding and offboarding, ensuring nothing gets lost in the system and invisible renewal costs don’t pile up in the background.

The final word

SaaS creep is, at its root, an organisational design problem. It emerges predictably wherever purchases are not carefully monitored, and where auto-renewal clauses allow costs to persist beyond the point of value. For you as a business leader, the takeaway is simple: software spend requires the same disciplined oversight as any other cost.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

The post The Subscription Trap: SMEs are Losing Thousands to “SaaS Creep” appeared first on Balmon.

“Compliance is not a choice. It’s a responsibility.” (Jack Welch, former CEO, General Electric)

In South Africa, business compliance obligations are enforced by several different government bodies, each responsible for a different section of business oversight, and each with its own systems and requirements.

Compliance is a strategic business priority today, not only because it is essential to business success, but also because it is ongoing, extremely expensive, and increasingly complex.

Compliance is essential

Non-compliance with business regulations can trigger financial penalties, audits, being flagged as non-compliant by CIPC, rejected funding applications, and missed commercial opportunities.

Unpaid tax debt can be collected by SARS directly from a company’s bank account or another third party, like a client. Deregistration at CIPC means the company loses legal standing to contract, and this can result in, for example, the company’s bank account being closed by the financial institution. 

Compliance is ongoing

Compliance isn’t a once-off exercise. It’s an ongoing responsibility that evolves as your business starts interacting with banks, funders, clients, and regulators, employs staff, and generates more revenue.

Local businesses are subject to ever more regulatory obligations that are not only increasingly complex but also constantly changing, demanding ever more human and financial resources.

Compliance is so expensive

Compliance costs are substantial in South Africa, roughly three to five times higher than in similar countries, according to the Free Market Foundation. “Across an estimated 150,000 SMEs, the aggregate cost of compliance is estimated at R270 – 450 billion annually, equating to roughly 4 – 6% of GDP.”

The report continues: “For a medium-sized enterprise, direct compliance expenditures, including internal compliance staff, external advisors, licencing and filing fees, and reporting systems, range from R1.4 million to R3 million per year. When indirect costs (diversion of management time, lost strategic opportunities, risk mitigation activities) are included, the total annual burden may easily double.”

Compliance is for every business

For almost all businesses, essential compliance includes at the very least the requirements of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL)

CIPC compliance: Annual returns and Beneficial Owner Registers

• Registration: CIPC registers and maintains records of private companies (Pty Ltds) and close corporations (CCs) in South Africa.
• Legal standing: CIPC compliance gives your business a legal registration number, recognition as a juristic person, the standing to contract with clients and institutions, and the ability to open a business bank account.
• Annual returns: Every registered company must submit annual returns (and other documents) to CIPC within 30 business days of its registration anniversary to confirm the business is active and to disclose annual turnover. Beneficial Owner Registers must also be filed annually or when beneficial ownership changes occur.

Consequences of non-compliance include late filing penalties, being marked as a non-compliant company, and – after two consecutive years of non-submission – possible deregistration. Deregistration can invalidate contracts and result in bank accounts being frozen.

SARS: Tax compliance

• Income tax: Companies are automatically registered for income tax when incorporated with CIPC, but compliance still requires submitting income tax returns annually, as well as provisional tax returns twice a year where applicable, while keeping accurate financial records and paying tax liabilities on time.
• Employee taxes: From the day your first employee starts, and assuming the relevant criteria are met, employee income tax (PAYE), Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions (UIF), and the Skills Development Levy (SDL) must be declared and paid monthly via the EMP201 return.
• VAT: VAT registration is mandatory once annual taxable supplies exceed R2.3 million in any 12-month period. Voluntary registration is allowed when taxable supplies exceed R120,000. VAT compliance typically means bi-monthly or monthly VAT201 submissions, accurate invoicing and strict record-keeping.

Tax non-compliance is one of the most common reasons businesses run into penalties, audits, or rejected funding applications, because many tenders, credit applications, and commercial contracts require proof of tax compliance in the form of a SARS TCS (Tax Compliance Status) PIN (Personal Identification Number).

DEL: Labour law compliance

• Written employment contracts and policies aligned with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), the Labour Relations Act (LRA), the National Minimum Wage Act (NMW) and any applicable sectoral determinations are critical.
• UIF registration is mandatory within 21 days after appointing the first employee who works at least 24 hours a month, using the DEL’s uFiling portal.
• The COIDA (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act) requires registration with the Compensation Fund to provide workplace injury compensation. Businesses must submit an annual Return of Earnings (ROE) to the DEL, declaring employees’ earnings, even in years with no incidents, to keep the crucial Letter of Good Standing valid.

Labour law non-compliance is a common cause of audits, inspections, and penalties. In addition, missing a ROE submission can delay the company’s Letter of Good Standing, holding up tender participation, contracts, and even site access.

Compliance as a strategic strength

Compliance can be a strategic strength. Proactively managed compliance protects organisations from risk, improves access to funding, maintains eligibility for opportunities and partnerships, and enables your business to thrive responsibly.

We can assist you in all company compliance matters. Our expertise and years of experience will not only unlock all these benefits for you but will also save your company a great deal of time, hassle, and costs – now and in the long run.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

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“The Power of Done starts with knowing when to act.” (SARS)

The 2026 Tax Season officially opens on 13 July 2026 for the 2025/2026 year of assessment, covering the period between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026.

During filing season, taxpayers must complete and submit their tax returns, declaring their income and deductions to allow SARS to determine their final tax liability for the period under assessment.

Dates to diarise

What’s new this filing season

• “The Power of Done”: This year SARS is inviting taxpayers to experience “The Power of Done”, a campaign that centres on Auto-Assessments. SARS says that if you agree with your auto-assessment, you don’t need to manually file a return or do anything else, truly experiencing “The Power of Done”.
• More prefilled data: More taxpayer information from third parties like employers, banks, medical schemes, insurers and retirement funds, is already pre-populated on returns, which means less time spent on capturing data and hopefully fewer mistakes.
• Stricter verification: SARS has upgraded its data-matching algorithms. So even if auto-assessed, make sure to double-check that all your data (like deductions and donations) is accurate.
• WhatsApp integration: Taxpayers can now receive their Notice of Assessment (ITA34) or Statement of Account (SOA), as well as securely upload supporting documents, directly via WhatsApp.

To be or not to be auto-assessed… Here’s what to do

Rely on our expertise for a hassle-free filing season 

This is what we can do for you:

• Verify all SARS communications are legitimate to protect you from scams.
• Check that all taxpayer and banking details are correct and updated with SARS to facilitate refunds and to prevent identity theft and fraud.
• Claim every tax rebate available to you to avoid you paying more tax than required.
• Correctly prepare all required documentation early to avoid last-minute delays and to expedite a possible SARS verification or audit.
• Check auto-assessments to ensure these are correct before they are accepted.
• Ensure that your tax return submissions comply with current regulations.
• Meet all submission deadlines on your behalf to avoid penalties.

Our team of seasoned tax professionals is ready to make this filing season a doddle!

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

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The post 2026 Tax Season Opens: Experience the Power of Done appeared first on Balmon.

“The bottom line is that having a purpose is good business. It is the business of the future.” (Brian Whipple, former CEO of Accenture Song)

In 2026, Gen Z and Millennials are beginning to take their place as the dominant purchasing generations. It’s a significant moment as these two generations do things differently to those that came before. Millennials established the trend, choosing to focus on values-led purchasing, driven by a preference for transparency, and a willingness to hold brands to account. Gen Z has taken it further still, treating consumption as activism.

According to McKinsey & Company, nearly 70 percent of respondents say that a brand’s social and ethical values directly influence their purchasing decisions. This deepening sense that spending choices carry moral weight, a trend known as “charitable identity”, has created a consumer bloc unlike any that has come before it. For small business owners and entrepreneurs, understanding this shift is about to become essential for future earnings. 

Identity is the new loyalty

For older generations, brand loyalty was largely built on reliability and price. For younger consumers, the framework is entirely different: brands are worn like values on a sleeve. Research from the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer confirms that Gen Z uses brand affiliation as a form of social signalling. It’s a way of communicating who they are, and who they are not. This means that choosing to buy from a brand is less about the product and more about the statement. A clothing label with verified ethical supply chains, a bank that invests in community lending, or a coffee company that pays fair-trade premiums: these are all brands that allow the purchaser to feel that their money is doing something meaningful. In this sense, purpose-driven brands have become a form of charitable giving. The consumer simultaneously acquires a product and signals support for a cause.

Where ethical business meets charitable identity

Perhaps the most nuanced dimension of this trend is the ever-blurring line between consumption and philanthropy. For many younger consumers, donating to a cause and buying from a purpose-aligned brand are not distinct activities. They occupy the same emotional register: both feel like acts of conviction.

This overlap between consumption and charitable intent is transforming the way small businesses can position themselves: a clear social mission is also a business goal. If you have not made space in your annual budgets for your social mission, this must be rectified as soon as possible. You need to decide just what you stand for, and how much you can afford to invest in this aspect of your business. As your accountants, we can help you with this.

What this means for Mandela Day

Getting involved in initiatives like Mandela Day is no longer a purely philanthropic choice. And, interestingly, small businesses have an advantage over big ones. While a large corporation can sponsor a global cause at arm’s length, a small business can muck in at a local level. From supporting the local school’s sports team, volunteering at a food bank, or committing a percentage of monthly sales to a neighbourhood cause, it’s all about making your values visible to your immediate community.

Regular and authentic charitable activity generates word-of-mouth referrals that no advertising budget can replicate. It earns coverage in local and trade media, and produces social media content that resonates precisely because it is real. It also builds internal loyalty, as employees who feel proud of where they work are more motivated and less likely to leave.

The key piece, however, is alignment. Charitable activity that feels disconnected from your business’s identity will stick out to a generation trained to detect inauthenticity at a glance. A legal firm that mentors disadvantaged youth, an accountancy practice that runs free financial literacy workshops, a café that donates unsold food to a local shelter: these are acts of giving that simultaneously tell a coherent story about who you are and what you stand for.

The practical formula is straightforward: choose causes your team genuinely cares about, build long-term partnerships rather than one-off gestures, communicate them consistently across your channels, and track the outcome not only in goodwill but in customer retention and referral rates. What you choose to do for Mandela Day is a valuable part of your brand, not just an excuse to get out of the office.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact us for specific and detailed advice.

© AccountingDotNews

The post Mandela Day: Why Younger Consumers Support Purpose-Driven Businesses appeared first on Balmon.