Thanks for all the responses and apologies for the late reply.. Not sure why I didn't get email notifications for the replies..
If an accountant is charging you to do the work, then push him to get it done asap. He has no reason to stall your application. An average SARS visit takes about 3 hours. 2 Hours waiting(because of personal income tax filing season), and one hour about for the VAT interview.
SARS has very specific requirements, if you comply with everything perfectly then one visit is enough. If all your documents arent as specific as they want and you want your accountant to "try" with other documents then dont be angry with him if he tells you he needs other documents and has to go in again. SARS is efficient when all your things are exactly as they want it.
The other thing with SARS is that everytime you go in you may not necessarily see the same consultant. It's good for combatting corruption. But bad for efficiency, because one consultant will pick up a fault with the application, and then you come back the next time, another consultant will find another fault. And there is very little you can do about this in that case.
If they issue you with a VAT number immediately, please give feedback here so I can take all my registrations to that branch.
I had a VAT registration number issued on the 12/08/2013. This week. I took in the application on the 03/07/2013. Everytime I called the call center to find out if the number is issued, I asked them a time frame for a VAT registration number to issued, and all the consultants told me that SARS rules is that there is no time frame. How true this is, I dont know. So technically, you can wait forever. Practically 4-6 weeks is a good gauge. Sometimes it will be sooner. If you wait longer than 6 weeks, you need to go into the branch and complain to the branch manager.
Make copies of everything you submit. Let them date stamp your copy when you submit the documents for your records. Ask them to give you a case number for the submission as well. You can use this when you do follow ups.
When it is issued, SARS will issue you with a VAT103 form. It states all the details of the registration. Keep this original document safe.
And may the force be with you. PEACE.
take the application in yourself if you want things done. tax consultants have got many other people's paper work to do so they can't just drop other people's things to do one specific person's stuff because they say it's urgent. everyone's tax affairs is urgent.
Thanks, I first had my accountant fill in the forms and check all the supporting documents, then went in personally to hand in the application.
I had to go in two times but got everything sorted.. The first time I went it, I ended up an an in-experienced "counter consultant", she had only done one VAT interview before so she had to get another consultant to assist. Then while checking they request a copy of my lease as I only had a Rental/Electricity Invoice from my landlord as proof of address. I then went back with the lease and this time got to go to an "office consultant"..
At SARS there are two types of consultants, a normal 'counter consultant' and an 'office consultant'. According to them the 'office consultant' deals with more complex cases and have more experience.. My VAT interview took about an hour.. There is a set template for the questions they ask, so they just go thru the document and fill in your answers, print it out and attach it to your application. The consultant checked everything and completed the interview.
From what I found out the time frame for a vat registration is 21 working days (excludes saturdays, even though some branches are open.) Once they get the application everything is verified by a second person at the branch and then submitted to Pretoria, thats where the application actually gets processed.
After the first week I used to do a daily search on the website using my trading name to check if the number has been registered, and on the 14th day (11th working day), a new record finally appeared. Their website showed that there were other companies with the same trading name as me, I called them to verify it was in fact my number, they told me my application was processed a day before, so my application actually took 10 working days
The call centre lady couldn;t read out my number (they not allowed to) so I read it to her and she confirmed it was my one.
I still haven't yet received my vat 103 certificate/form, but hoping to get it early next week..
Why is it necessary to have a vat number and certificate to open a supplier account?
I thought all one needed is a company registration number
Not really sure, probably just to very that you giving the correct details.. It's possible to do a basic VAT vendor search via the SARS website from where they can check, but this only gives basic info such as the trading name and vat number.
takes 6-8 weeks, I got mine issued 2 weeks after I did the application end of May
My application was processed within 2 weeks also although I haven't yet received my VAT 103 certificate.
Used to be almost immediately, but these days upto six weeks isn't unheard off.
I inquired about this and they said that they used to issue it immediately before, but due to fraud they changed the procedure.. My Application was initially done by one consultant, then another consultant verifies and checks all supporting documents are correct, then from there it's submitted to Pretoria where it finally gets processed.
I suppose all you would need actually is an ID book. I dont know why they would require it even for tenders. I have thought about this before too. The only reason I can think of is that whoever requires you to have a VAT number would be able to trust that you are legit and that you have a running business and that SARS would have already verified all your details(So they dont have to do that). This makes the most sense to me. And its just my opinion. Maybe somebody else can give a more accurate answer.
Yep thats probably why they need it. I've also seen some company account applications that as for tax clearance certificates.
