Doing Business in Sandton, October 2021

Welcome!

Welcome to the Megaplex Business Booster Newsletter as advertised in our longstanding Newsletter: "Shopping in Sandton".  This short monthly bulletin will give you quick tips that can make your business more profitable, more robust, and less likely to bankrupt you.

You are receiving this because you subscribed, or because your business in Sandton or Bryanston appears on the megaplex.co.za website.  We have ways you can benefit from this.

First, words of encouragement, inspired by an email from Peter Carruthers. (No, not these very ones –scroll down a bit)

Now that you've been vaccinated, where's your Certificate?  See below.

Can you get a tax break for working from home?  See below.

Finally, news from the guardians of POPIA.  And how to avoid them coming after you.

Editorial

My grandmother died of the Spanish Flu in 1918. My late mother said that her mother had been nursing others through the epidemic.  Then she caught it herself and died "as the bells of peace were ringing out" at the end of the First World War.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed between 1% and 5% of the world's population.

With COVID-19, we are nowhere near those numbers. We're at about 0.06%.

Right now, if you and I are able to complain, we're the lucky ones. We are still alive.

If you're reading this, you probably own your own business. That once supported your family. Though it might not be doing so right now.

You and I have a history of working for ourselves. We have more control over our future than any poor soul stuck in a job. Or, worse, not in a job.

You created a job for yourself in the past. You can do it again. What did you do before as you started out?  What's changed? Look at the possibilities arising from those changes. Start again.  Start now.

Tip: How to get your COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate

The government’s Vaccine Certificate System (VCS) is now active. These certificates are based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and most countries should accept them. You need to present the certificate along with your passport. You can get yours here.

What information do I need to download the certificate?

  1. Your South African ID number or, if you do not have one, your passport number;
  2. Your vaccination code, which was sent via SMS to you after you received your vaccine. If you received more than one vaccination, either of the codes will do.

How do I use my certificate?

  • Digitally on your smart device;
  • Print a hard copy.

How long is my certificate valid for?

As there were glitches on the system prior to official go-live on Friday 8 October 2021, it’s advisable to download another certificate from the live system. The VCS will undergo security upgrades which will require you to download the newer versions when the upgraded systems are available.

How do I get assistance?

If you have lost your vaccination codes or experience any difficulties in downloading your certificate, call 0800 029 999 or email.

Information supplied by Profmed..

Working from Home? Make a Personal Tax Claim:

Individual tax season opened on the 1st of July 2021.

Have you considered deducting expenses during the period that you might have worked from home?

Suppose you are an employee who works from home and has set aside a room to be occupied for “trade”, e.g. employment. In that case, you may be allowed to deduct certain home office expenses for tax purposes calculated on a pro-rata basis. Provided that you meet the requirements as set out in the Income Tax Act, section 11(a) read in conjunction with sections 23(b) and 23(m).

What are the requirements for claiming home office expenses?

Section 23(b) of the Income Tax Act states that a tax deduction for home office expenses is only allowed:

1. If the room is regularly and exclusively used for the purposes of the taxpayer’s trade, e.g. employment and is specifically equipped for that purpose. The home office must be set up solely for the purpose of working.

2. If the employee’s remuneration is only salary, the duties are mainly performed in this part of the home. It, therefore, means you perform more than 50% of your duties in your home office.

3. Where more than 50% of your remuneration consists of commission or variable payments based on your work performance, and more than 50% of those duties are performed outside of an office provided by your employer.

What constitutes home office expenditure?

Typically, the type of home office expenditure referred to in section 23(b), namely:

1. Rent of the premises;

2. Cost of repairs to the premises; and

3. Expenses in connection with the premises.

In addition to these expenses, other typical home office expenditure may include phones, internet, stationery, rates and taxes, cleaning, office equipment and wear-and-tear.

Information kindly supplied by Brilliant Consultants. They have registered tax practitioners ready to assist you with your tax submission.

POPIA News

Following their embarrassing computer hack and loss of data, the Information Regulator has set up new email addresses, which are listed here.  The most important ones are:

Is this all Greek to you?  (unless of course you are Greek)

The answers are vital to your business survival. Click here to join us online at 8 pm TONIGHT (or Next Wednesday) to discover how to reach POPIA compliance easily.

POPIA, the Protection of Personal Information Act, went live on 1 July 2021.
Here's a free online course that tells you what the law says –in plain English.
Here's a follow-on course, at a massive discount, that tells you how to get POPI compliant.

All the best from Rick at megaplex.co.za,

the World's most helpful website for shops in Sandton.

To view other issues of the newsletter, click these links (same page):
2019: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November,
2020: January, February, March, April, May (there was a gap during lockdown)
2021: May, June, July, August, September
Subscribe here or locate another period.