It is hard to believe that we are already in the second half of the year.

As Chartered continues to grow and the way we work continues to evolve, we have decided to embark on an exciting upgrade to our upstairs offices at Chartered House. There is never a perfect time to undertake renovations, so we have decided to get the project underway as soon as possible.

The refurbishment will commence at the beginning of August and is expected to be completed by 18 September. While our client-meeting facilities downstairs will remain fully operational throughout the project, unfortunately, there will be some unavoidable noise and disruption from time to time.

To minimise the impact on both our clients and our team, we have encouraged staff to work from home where practical, coming into the office primarily for team collaboration and client meetings. Where appropriate, our planning teams will also conduct review meetings online or visit clients in their homes or offices during this period.

Thank you in advance for your patience, understanding and cooperation during this time. Although there may be some temporary disruption while we complete the refurbishment, it will be very much business as usual. Our team will remain fully available by phone, email and WhatsApp, and as always, we look forward to hearing from you and assisting you in any way we can.

Tax Season Reminders

While writing this update for the Beacon, I thought it worthwhile to share a few highlights from a communication our Chartered Tax team recently sent to clients. Even if you are not a Chartered Tax client, these are useful reminders as we head into tax season.

On that note, we are delighted to welcome Leon Newman to the Chartered Tax team. Leon is a qualified CA(SA) with over 30 years’ experience, including 14 years as a Tax Partner at Deloitte South Africa, further strengthening our tax offering.

SARS continues to increase its compliance and verification activities. If you receive an auto-assessment, don’t assume it is correct. Have it reviewed before accepting it. We are also seeing increased SARS verification requests, making good record-keeping more important than ever. Trustees should be aware of the enhanced IT3(t) reporting requirements for trust distributions.

Finally, please remain vigilant against the growing number of fraudulent emails and SMSs claiming to be from SARS. If a communication contains a link or requests payment into a bank account, treat it with caution. When in doubt, contact our Chartered Tax team before taking any action.

Thank you, as always, for your continued trust and support. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with you and look forward to seeing many of you over the coming months, whether at Chartered House, online, or in the comfort of your own home.