Tax services
Corporate Tax Services South Africa
Coordinate annual corporate tax compliance with reliable accounting records, documented positions and timely decisions.
Corporate income tax is where a year of bookkeeping is finally tested. The ITR14 is built from your annual financial statements, so the quality of the return is decided months before it is filed, by whether the books reconcile, whether supporting documents exist and whether the tax positions taken during the year were ever documented.
We prepare the computation and the return, reconcile the SARS account, and make sure the provisional payments made during the year line up with the final liability rather than producing an unexpected shortfall.
Who this is for
Built around your operating reality
- South African companies
- Foreign-owned subsidiaries
- Branches and external companies
- Growing groups
What we deliver
A controlled, documented service
- Corporate tax computation support
- ITR14 preparation and submission
- Provisional-tax coordination
- Tax-account reconciliation
- Supporting-document preparation
- Planning and technical referrals
Common situations
When companies come to us
- The financial year has ended and the ITR14 deadline is approaching
- Provisional payments were estimated without a proper calculation
- The SARS account shows a balance nobody can explain
- An assessed loss needs to be carried forward and substantiated
- The company has never filed, or has fallen several years behind
- A funder, buyer or auditor has asked for clean tax records
How the corporate tax year actually runs
A company does not simply file once a year. The cycle has three or four touchpoints, and each one depends on the last being done properly.
The first provisional payment falls six months into the year of assessment, based on an estimate. The second falls on the last day of the year, on a tighter estimate that carries real penalty risk. An optional third payment can close any shortfall before interest starts running. The ITR14 itself is due within twelve months of your financial year end, which means the due date follows your own year end, not a national date.
- First provisional payment: an estimate, six months in
- Second provisional payment: a tighter estimate, at year end
- Third payment: voluntary, to close a shortfall before interest accrues
- ITR14, the final return, within twelve months of year end
Accounting profit is not taxable income
The computation starts with the profit in your financial statements and then adjusts it. This is the part that goes wrong most often, because the adjustments are not visible in the accounting system, they exist only in the tax computation and the working papers behind it.
Typical adjustments include disallowed expenses, capital allowances that differ from accounting depreciation, prepaid expenditure, provisions that are not yet deductible, and the treatment of any assessed loss brought forward. Each one needs a reason recorded at the time, not reconstructed under query three years later.
The tax account is a reconciliation, not a statement
A SARS statement of account shows assessments, payments, penalties and interest interacting. An unexplained balance is usually a mis-allocated payment, a provisional payment posted to the wrong period, or an assessment nobody objected to in time.
We reconcile the account as part of the annual cycle rather than treating it as a separate exercise, because a balance left unexplained tends to grow interest quietly and then block a Tax Compliance Status request at the worst possible moment.
Clear steps and responsibilities
Identify tax adjustments
Prepare computation and return
Obtain approval
Submit and monitor
Learn from other people’s mistakes
Where corporate tax goes wrong
Provisional estimates made without a calculation
A guessed estimate that materially understates taxable income exposes the company to an underestimation penalty on the second payment. The penalty is calculated on the shortfall, so a large year makes a casual estimate expensive.
Filing before the financial statements are final
An ITR14 filed off draft numbers usually needs a correction later, and a corrected return attracts more attention than a late one filed correctly.
Assessed losses without substantiation
A loss carried forward is only as good as the records behind it. SARS can and does ask for the history, sometimes years later.
Nobody watching the assessment
An assessment that differs from the return has a limited objection window. Missing it converts a disputable position into a settled debt.
Getting started
What we need to prepare the return
The exact list depends on the company and the year. We confirm it after an initial review rather than sending a generic checklist.
- Annual financial statements for the year of assessment
- Trial balance and general ledger
- Fixed asset register and additions or disposals during the year
- Details of provisional payments already made
- The latest SARS statement of account
- Supporting documents for any material or unusual transactions
- Prior year assessment and computation, if we did not prepare it
Connected work
What usually goes with this
Frequently asked questions
What to know before you begin
If your situation is not covered here, ask, the answer usually turns on facts a page cannot know.
Are companies provisional taxpayers? +
Companies generally fall within the provisional-tax system, with filings based on their year of assessment.
Does CIPC registration complete tax filing? +
No. Registration and recurring SARS compliance are separate.
Can you guarantee no SARS query? +
No. We prepare supportable filings, but SARS determines verification and audit activity.
When is the ITR14 due? +
Within twelve months of the company’s financial year end, so the due date follows your own year end rather than a national date. Two companies with different year ends rarely share an ITR14 deadline.
What happens if we have not filed for several years? +
Older returns are prepared and filed in sequence, because each year’s opening position depends on the one before it. Penalties and interest are dealt with separately once the returns are in, and remission can be requested where there are grounds.
Can an assessed loss be used indefinitely? +
The rules on utilising an assessed loss have changed in recent years and now limit how much of taxable income a brought-forward loss can offset in a year. The current position should be confirmed against your specific numbers rather than assumed.
Talk to M&J about tax services
Tell us where you are and what is outstanding. We will come back with a scope and a clear next step rather than a generic quote.
- Corporate tax computation support
- ITR14 preparation and submission
- Provisional-tax coordination
Prefer to talk? +27 87 078 2478
Request a consultation
An M&J consultant will come back to you with the next step.