Tax and financial stuff

I have the forms from SARS, but don't really have a clue as to how to fill them in. Also I tried to use GnuCash to do my book-keeping, but failed miserably.

Luckily I have found a small operation of an accountant and admin person and they do personal and business tax and financial management. The thing is I am too small to use their services for invoicing and month-to-month books, so I got to get the right book-keeping software, and use it.

Any advise or opinion on what accounting software is best?

Book-keeping for my Small Operation

So I would say that my activities are small, it is really just me at the moment. I hope to use the services of an accountant for:

1. personal tax return (I have to be a provisional taxpayer as I am a member of a CC)
2. company tax return

So I have to figure out how to keep record of all costs and transactions myself. I always want to try and use open source software where I can, so I am trying out GNUCash, which from an accounting perspective appears sound, and so far is easy to use. The only problem is that I know so little about keeping books so I am reading help files and trying to figure this out as I go.



Wish me luck!

Register my Close Corporation for Tax

The CC that I have established is of course a taxable entity, and so I had to register it with the South African Revenue Service (SARS). There were 2 options open to me:

1. Register the Close Corporation for income tax.
2. Register for Turnover Tax

Turnover tax is a really innovative system to simplify returns for SMBs who are filing multiple returns a year especially if you are also VAT registered. My new business will have no employees and will not be registered for VAT, so normal tax registration will do me fine and not make my life any more complicated.

I had to complete for form IT/IB 77C (IT 77C) and fax it through to SARS with my CIPRO registration and a copy of my ID.

The final step of the tax thing is that I now need to register as a provisional taxpayer, as I am a member of a CC, sheesh all these forms to fill out with little blocks!