Do SARS check our bank accounts?

[Serqet]

Actually, it's in the Relationship Section - SARS is a silent partner in all your endeavours

Bwhahaha that was a brilliant comment.

 

[DJ...]

No it's not any kind of business, and my customers isn't businesses. And no one will querry where a normal joe's money goes, if he pays me cash.

I know this isn't good practise what I'm doing, but hell, I do it because I must do it to survive. If they take their chunk, what the hell do they think I must do to fill up that gap again too? Times are tight, and a man gotta eat.

So what are you doing that doesn't require a business but earns you an income? I know of a few women with similar "service arrangements" but wasn't aware that there was a significant market for men. R5k you say? Wow, busy man...

 

[hashbrown99]

They do not check all accounts regularly, but they do have the right, yes.

So I guess they only do that once their suspicion is aroused.

All it takes is a pissed off ex-employee, business associate, ex-wife...

Reporting tax evasion is rewarded AFAIK

 

[blue-eye-boy]

So what are you doing that doesn't require a business but earns you an income? I know of a few women with similar "service arrangements" but wasn't aware that there was a significant market for men. R5k you say? Wow, busy man...

No just some hard work. As I said, some months that much, and some R1000, or none. But R5000 was the highest it ever got.

 

[fivelza]

IMO you should declare it - it's not worth the risk unless you can somehow hide that cash (iow it never hits a bank account)...

I'm with DJK on this, the right thing to do is declare it.

 

[Bondizzo]

I also get income selling my own 2nd hand goods , does that need to be declared ? I don't see it as making a profit. How does that work ?

 

[DJ...]

I also get income selling my own 2nd hand goods , does that need to be declared ? I don't see it as making a profit. How does that work ?

No, not unless you're making a profit from it. However I think you should keep the receipts if this is a significant amount of money or you're doing this on a regular basis...

 

[Messugga]

OK, sorry for the thread hijack but I also have some queries and ol' DJK seems to know what he's on about

So, I'm a student and around June, I was offered a part time job and a start up company(it was just me and the owner then) which I gladly accepted. Now, he paid me R2000 - R4000 per month for my work, depending on what I did.
I emailed SARS and asked what I should be doing, as this is my first job in SA and they only replied last week with some useless answer.
Anyway, from this month onwards, my pay is going up quite a bit and the company has grown as well. What do I need to do? Register as a tax payer, I assume? What responsibilities lie with the company(and in effect me, since I'm part of the core group)?
Should I go to SARS and tell them I've earned around R25k this year, etc and then pay tax on it? What should I do otherwise, considering I'm going to be earning over R100k pa from now onwards, which is a barrier of sorts, tax-wise if memory serves?

 

[anathema]

I do some part time work, and mostly take cash only. But sometimes you get that customer who prefers eft to my account. So, do SARS check our bank accounts?

Audit. There is that magical word again .

If they choose to audit you they can access your bank account.

So unless you selling drugs or women or both and are not earning 'above your means' as they say then you should do fine - and maybe put off buying that Audi TT for a bit.

You can also claim that it was a donation, but they don't believe that much these days.

 

[blunomore]

If SARS were to check my bank account, they'd probaly make a deposit out of pity for my grim financial situation

 

[fivelza]

OK, sorry for the thread hijack but I also have some queries and ol' DJK seems to know what he's on about

So, I'm a student and around June, I was offered a part time job and a start up company(it was just me and the owner then) which I gladly accepted. Now, he paid me R2000 - R4000 per month for my work, depending on what I did.
I emailed SARS and asked what I should be doing, as this is my first job in SA and they only replied last week with some useless answer.
Anyway, from this month onwards, my pay is going up quite a bit and the company has grown as well. What do I need to do? Register as a tax payer, I assume? What responsibilities lie with the company(and in effect me, since I'm part of the core group)?
Should I go to SARS and tell them I've earned around R25k this year, etc and then pay tax on it? What should I do otherwise, considering I'm going to be earning over R100k pa from now onwards, which is a barrier of sorts, tax-wise if memory serves?

You will effectively not have to pay tax on the R25k. There is what they call a primary rebate of R8280 which will be deducted from the tax on the R25k.

The company should register you as a taxpayer and then deduct PAYE/SITE on a monthly basis.

 

[Messugga]

Yes, I get that they should subtract on a monthly basis, but they haven't up to now, hence why I don't know what I'm supposed to do and SARS aren't being very helpful either.

 

[fivelza]

Yes, I get that they should subtract on a monthly basis, but they haven't up to now, hence why I don't know what I'm supposed to do and SARS aren't being very helpful either.

If they haven't then I suggest you get them to register you ASAP so that they can issue you with an IRP5 to use to file a return with SARS. In any event it should not be a big deal as you would still be in a zero tax paying situation with your earnings around R100k. Where you will lose out is if/when you want to claim a travel allowance (if your job requires this) you will not be able to do it.

The company should have a PAYE registration number, get that at least and SARS should then be able to help you.

PM me if you need more help.

 

[DJ...]

OK, sorry for the thread hijack but I also have some queries and ol' DJK seems to know what he's on about

I'm no tax guru at all but I have run 3 businesses so have a fair idea about some tax situations. In your case fivelza is correct. Your company (or their payroll company) should be taxing you. If you didn't receive a payslip and the money wasn't taxed then you will need to declare this yourself though and question your boss about it too. The amount is under the taxable threshold though so you won't be taxed on it but you will still need to declare it as an income. Moving forward just make sure that you receive a payslip and are being taxed considering your pay is increasing.

The one thing to bear in mind is that if you receive a variable income, you will be taxed per month based on what you earn, and can then often claim a refund at the end of the year because of the sliding scale taxation. So if one month you earn R20k and then for the following few months earn R10k, you can claim the additional tax back for the one month where you earned R20k as you would have been taxed at a higher rate for that month. So remember that if your pay is performance related...

 

[DJ...]

In any event it should not be a big deal as you would still be in a zero tax paying situation with your earnings around R100k.

He won't be on a zero-rated tax at R100k AFAIK...

 

[Vegeta]

One thing that eeks me abit about sars and tax in general is the depth of tax, we're all taxed on income, companies and individuals which is great and fair.

You receive money from companies for work done great they get money from people great. So the money is taxed in the hands of the person buying the product the company sells then the company is taxed on that money next they pay that money to you you're taxed great all fine. Now your receive money from a friend for baking him 3 cakes you've been taxed, your friend has already been taxed the company paying his salary has been taxed You've been taxed on all the ingredients in that cake both VAT and income tax cause you bought the ingredients with your income now you get taxed again on the money your friend pays you, money that has already been taxed more than twice

Now my question why to this extreme, why to this depth?

 

[DJ...]

One thing that eeks me abit about sars and tax in general is the depth of tax, we're all taxed on income, companies and individuals which is great and fair.

You receive money from companies for work done great they get money from people great. So the money is taxed in the person buying the product the company sells then the company is taxed on that money next they pay that money to you you're taxed great all fine. Now your receive money from a friend for baking him 3 cakes you've been taxed your friend has already been taxed the company paying his salary has been taxed You've been taxed on all the ingredients in that cake both VAT and income tax cause you bought the ingredients with your income now you get taxed again on the money your friend pays you, money that has already been taxed more than twice

Now my question why to this extreme, why to this depth?

None of this post makes much sense. A few commas, full stops and some grammar checking wouldn't go amiss. I get the gist of what you're trying to say but to answer it within the context of your question, it will need some editing - it doesn't really make much sense. Right now it sounds like you're claiming there is tax when there is none or double posting the same argument, or have had a few too many brewskies tonight.

However, that aside:

There is companies tax, income tax and VAT in your post (as far as I can make out). Are you arguing against one of these in particular or all of them?

 

[Vegeta]

None of this post makes much sense. A few commas, full stops and some grammar checking wouldn't go amiss. I get the gist of what you're trying to say but to answer it within the context of your question, it will need some editing - it doesn't really make much sense. Right now it sounds like you're claiming there is tax when there is none or double posting the same argument, or have had a few too many brewskies tonight.

However, that aside:

There is companies tax, income tax and VAT in your post (as far as I can make out). Are you arguing against one of these in particular or all of them?

Nope i agree with all the taxes. What i'm trying to say and its hard to explain if you type like me(you dont wanna know). What i'm saying is that the same money(source wise) are taxed more than once correct me if i'm wrong.
Individuals are taxed(income tax) then they buy a product(vat) from a company. That company is taxed(company's tax) the company then pays out that same money to its workers they're taxed(income tax) two workers of the same company then exchange money/income for whatever reason the person receiving it is taxed(income tax)(note this money has already been taxed(income tax))

That's what i mean kinda, fact of the matter is money subjected to income tax(in one individual's hands) is taxed again using income tax in the next individual's hands... its all fine but its a bit deep dont ya think.
EDIT: reading my previous post again i agree it makes f@kol sense

 

[DJ...]

Well the money is changing hands - it doesn't just disappear. The individuals themselves are never taxed twice (excl VAT) in any case, so I'm not seeing an issue here. There is a limited supply of money in any economy (unless of course you want to be like Zim and just print more) and that money will be taxed repeatedly, it stands to reason. I think this might make a bit more sense to you if you rather think about it within the context of physical money changing hands.

One thing you have to separate here is income tax from VAT. If VAT were scrapped, all other taxes would just be higher. And just because the money is taxed more than once doesn't mean the individual is; in fact it's quite the opposite.

The one thing I don't understand is that you agree with all the taxes in the first part of your post but then take issue with them in the remainder...

 

[remybfg10k]

I think its funny we can't openly talk about pirating but we can talk openly about trying to cheat the taxman haha