|
|
News Articles
SHOULD I OR SHOULDN’T I?
By Derek Stockley
Sometimes it seems easier to just do it yourself
Most of us would have said to ourselves: "It would have been
easier if I had done it myself".
Communication is a difficult process. It is easy
to forget to tell someone a key piece of information when passing on
information or giving them instructions. Consequently, people may
not do exactly as you expect. So is this a reason to stop trying? No
- I believe it is a reason to get better at communi-cating. Both
parties should learn something.
I remember an incident very early in my career. I
was asked to do an accounting task. Apparently I did not do it
correctly. The manager concerned redid the task, without telling me.
I found out from somebody else. The manager was angry. I was angry
too because I had not had the opportunity to learn. I was also upset
that I had made mistakes. I did not want to do that either. It was a
no-win situation. I should have asked for more guidance. The manager
should have had better controls in place. We both should have learnt
from the experience.
read more »
ARE YOUR STAFF TAKING NOTICE OF WHAT CUSTOMERS
SAY?
By Derek Stockley
Story One - How not to handle a complaint
We stayed in a hotel last year. From the moment we walked into
the room, things started to go wrong. In themselves, each little
problem did not amount to much. However, by the time it came to
check out the next morning, I had decided to spend some time
providing some feedback.
Although we had filled out a feedback form, I
asked the receptionist to write down the list.
My first comment was about the queen sized bed, a
factor in choosing this particular accommodation. The bed was fine,
it just did not fit the room (obviously designed for a double bed).
My second comment was about an electronic room
key. One of the two we had been given did not work.
Although I had five or six more comments to go,
at this stage I noticed that the receptionist was not writing my
comments down. When I quizzed him, he said he did not need to - the
hotel already knew about the beds and the key was "one of those
things".
At this stage, I abandoned my feedback and made
the comment "that I was wasting my time".
We completed the check out process. I did not
receive any form of apology from the receptionist. I left with
another article topic and story for this newsletter.
The receptionist felt my comments were trivial
and unimportant. To me, they were valuable feedback.
I did receive a nice letter from management about
the comments on the feedback form. Although the annoyance subsided,
the negative experience was still felt.
read more »
|
NEWS FROM SARS
- Tax Season for Individuals and Trusts:
- Submission period opens for all taxpayers:
1 July 2011
- Manual Submission deadline for all taxpayers:
30 September 2011
- Electronic submission deadline for non-provisional
taxpayers:
25 November 2011
- Electronic submission deadline for provisional
taxpayers:
31 January 2012
CIPC WAVES LATE FILING
FEES
The Companies and intellectual Property
Commission (CIPC) would like to accommodate customers in submitting
the annual returns later than what the Acts require due to the
system developments. The CIPC is waiving the late filing fees and
penalties for annual returns on both companies and close
corporations. The Waiving of penalties and late filing fees are
applicable for annual returns which became due for the current CIPC
financial year that ids for 1 April 2011 until 31 March 2012.
read more »
CHIEF MASTERS
DIRECTIVE 4 OF 2011
The Chief Master has issued a directive after having been
approached by a number of role players for clarity on certain matters. The
directive contains a number of guidelines to ensure a uniform approach by
Masters on these matters.
read more »
REQUEST FOR CHANGE OF BANK DETAILS
The fraudulent changes to taxpayers’ bank details remain one
of the biggest risks that SARS has to deal with. It is SARS’
responsibility to protect taxpayers from any fraudulent transactions
on their SARS accounts emanating from within SARS.
To prevent such risks, taxpayers are therefore advised that under no
circumstances will SARS request taxpayers’ bank account details over
the phone or accept bank account detail changes via facsimile, post,
drop-box or e-mail.
read more »
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE CIPRO LIAISON COMMISSION
Following a meeting of the Cipro Liaison Committee on 24
February 2011, it was felt that the following should be communicated
to members as a matter of urgency in preparation for the
implementation of the new Companies Act and the new Companies and
Intellectual Property Commission (The Commission).
Please take note of the following changes which are to be
implemented on 1 April 2011, and the consequences of these changes.
Effective date 1 April 2011
read more »
ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY FOR ELECTRONIC CHANGES TO COMPANY DIRECTORS
(CM29)
Pursuant to the review of the CM29 functionality, kindly note
that the functionality has been developed, and is ready for
implementation. As the first phase of the roll out of the
functionality it is essential for all companies to update their
Directors’ details as of 1 October 2010. The second phase will
entail the rollout of the enhanced CM29 functionality on 8 October
2010.
ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT EQUITY REPORTS TO BE IN BY 1 OCTOBER 2010
All designated employers must, in terms of Section 21 of
the Employment Equity Act, No. 55 of 1998, submit their annual
employment equity report by 1 October 2010.
An employer falls
under this Act if they meet the definition of a 'designated
employer'.
read more »
CHANGES TO THE PROVISIONAL TAX PROCESS
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is introducing
changes to the provisional tax process which will affect the way in
which provisional taxpayers file their IRP6 returns.
The following changes will become effective on 28 June 2010:
read more »
STATEMENT ON EXCHANGE CONTROL
The attention of Authorised Dealers
is drawn to the further steps in the liberalisation of exchange
controls announced by the Minister of Finance in the 2009 Medium
Term Budget Policy Statement, a copy of which is attached for ease
of reference.
read more »
SARS to apply strict penalties
In a media release dated 14 October 2009, the South African
Revenue Service (SARS) announced that they will introduce a system
of strict new administrative penalties against non-compliant
taxpayers from 23 November 2009.
In effect, taxpayers have until 20 November 2009 this year –
the final deadline of the 2009 Tax Season - to submit any
outstanding returns in order to avoid being penalised under the new
penalty regime.
read more »
GUIDE ON THE RETENTION OF RECORDS
Due to various legislative requirements, documents must be retained for a certain
number of years, depending on the applicable legislation.
This guide has been compiled referring to specific legislation in
effect at 30 June 2009 and identifying the timeframe that certain documents must be kept.
The guide does not attempt to be inclusive of all legislation, but
has only referred to general legislation impacting a wide variety of entities. Users of this
guide should always refer to legislation specific to their activities that might contain further
requirements relating to the retention of records.
The guide refers to the relevant act, listing the documents that
should be retained as well as
the period of retention.
read more »
|
