1. Filing season 2026 is open — but check before you accept

Individual (non-provisional) returns are due by 23 October 2026; provisional taxpayers and trusts have until 22 January 2027. SARS is auto-assessing more taxpayers than ever, which is convenient — but an auto-assessment is only as complete as the data SARS holds. If you have a home office, extra retirement annuity contributions, medical costs not on your scheme certificate, or rental losses, accepting it as-is can mean overpaying. Always review before you click accept.

2. The VAT threshold has moved to R2.3 million

Since 1 April 2026, compulsory VAT registration only kicks in at R2.3 million of taxable supplies over a rolling 12 months (up from R1 million), with voluntary registration from R120,000. If you registered under the old rule, you might now sit below the line — and whether to deregister depends entirely on your customers. Sell to VAT-registered businesses? Staying registered usually still wins. Sell to consumers? Deregistering could effectively cut your prices by 15%. It's a calculation worth doing, not a reflex. Our VAT guide has the full picture.

3. Provisional tax: the August deadline is coming

If you're a provisional taxpayer with a February year-end, your first provisional payment is due 31 August. This is where a lot of owners get caught — a rushed or lowball estimate leads to underestimation penalties and interest down the line. Get your first-half numbers looked at now, while there's time to estimate properly rather than guess.

4. One to diarise: CIPC beneficial ownership

A quiet one that's catching companies out: CIPC now requires a beneficial ownership declaration, and an out-of-date one can block your annual return. If you've had any change in shareholding, check it's reflected. If you've never filed it, that's worth sorting before your next annual return comes due.

Offshoring corner — for our UK readers

A growing share of Buzz's UK-firm enquiries start with the same sentence: "we can't hire fast enough." If that's you, the fix isn't working harder in January — it's separating production from client work and moving the production somewhere with real capacity and a UK timezone. South Africa sits within an hour or two of the UK all day, in first-language English. Here's how to pilot it without betting the practice.

This month's tip

Open a dedicated business bank account if you haven't — and run everything through it. It's the single change that does the most for your books, your deductions and (for companies) your legal protection. Boring advice; enormous payoff.

That's it for issue 01. Forward it to a business owner who'd find it useful — and if any of the above raises a question for your business, just reply or get in touch.