TaxTim now serves SMEs with tax completion tools

Innovative tax return tool TaxTim has  launched its tax completion tool for SMEs.

Following the success of its personal tax return tool, the digital assistant will provide provisional as well as annual tax return services for small businesses. These SMEs need to be registered Pty Ltd with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) as well as make less than R1-million turnover for the tax year.

“When we started this venture, our vision was to transform the tax return process for all taxpayers. The individual market was a natural starting point and I looked forward to the day that we would release services for businesses too. It’s exciting to see that come to fruition,” said co-founder and CFO Marc Sevitz.

According to a report conducted by TaxTim themselves, it showed that 58% of owners took the responsibility of managing the company’s books upon themselves. Only 13% of those asked about completing the annual ITR14 form said that they had outsourced the work to professionals.

These findings help to provide the necessary motivation to produce a service for SMEs.

“SMEs have traditionally been underserved by financial services firms, so we think this is an exciting development from TaxTim as small business owners really need empowering tools like this to enhance their business productivity,” mentioned RMI’s senior investment executive and head of AlphaCode, Dominique Collett.

“We particularly like how TaxTim approaches a daunting topic like tax by simplifying the process and engaging the user digitally.”

TaxTim also enjoys Gold Member status at AlphaCode.

TaxTim will seek to branch out to offer their services to even bigger companies

Much like the individual TaxTim service, their SME approach is quite similar. Taking on a conversational approach, the digital assistant guides users through their tax return step-by-step. This eliminates the need for users to have a complex grasp of tax and all the complicated terms that come with it.

Questions are put forward in English, taking on a logical order and where necessary, linking to pre-formulated calculators or tools.

Senior tax specialist and project lead, Nicci Courtney-Clarke mentioned, “Company tax is more detailed than individual income tax, but this provided us with an opportunity to expand the service and develop several new tools that add value.”

“We were able to break down complicated tax specific transactions into simple terms and ultimately help SMEs turn accounting transactions into tax values — quickly, easily and correctly,” continued Courtney-Clarke.

The calculator and tools allow SMEs to:

• Determine whether or not your business qualifies as a Small Business Corporation
• Calculate wear and tear as well as the depreciation values on various assets and equipment
• Determine whether certain expenses are tax deductible
• Ensure capital gains through complex calculations of asset disposals as well as losses recorded

TaxTim doesn’t intend on stopping there. Further plans to expand the tool for businesses earning more than R1-million per annum, directly linking to SARS for one-click submissions is also in the works along with cloud accounting packages.

Featured image: 401(K) 2012 via Flickr