08 June 2022, Luhann Prinsloo, Sinalo Ncityana
Commercial transactions can often involve a range of corporate structuring which in turn could have tax implications for participants. With all the focus on getting the deal done, often participants forget that a tax benefit a participant derives from the commercial arrangement may need to be disclosed to SARS.
25 April 2022, André van Niekerk, Damian Viviers
More and more businesses are looking into electronic contracting and signatures as alternatives to the traditional approach. Is your business considering a move towards going paperless or automating your contracting processes?
08 February 2022, Millisanté de Wee
Being a director in a company does not necessarily stop you from holding shares in other companies. However, should your company transact with another company in which you have a shareholding stake and from which you could potentially benefit, it becomes important that you disclose such financial interest to your co-directors, even if you can&rsquo
14 December 2021, Luhann Prinsloo
I understand there are amendments being proposed to the Companies Act? Will this help make life easier or harder for our company? It feels as if there is always just more red tape whenever the law changes.
15 November 2021
I’m a shareholder in a private company and wish to get rid of my shares to free up some cashflow. That said, I don’t want to sell to a stranger and my other shareholders don’t want to buy my shares either. One of them suggested that the company buy back my shares. Is this allowed?
14 September 2021, Johnny Davis
I was recently appointed as a proxy to represent a shareholder at an upcoming shareholders meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting has been rescheduled two months later, and I was wondering if the proxy will still be valid then or would I need to have a new proxy issued by the shareholder for the meeting?
14 June 2021, Relebogile Mogotsi
With all the talk of POPIA coming into effect and businesses having to get ready to comply, I was wondering whether government and municipalities also need to comply with POPIA. Surely, government entities have a lot of personal information in their possession that they must protect.
14 June 2021, Marc Naude
Our company will no longer qualify as an automatic EME and we will have to undergo a formal BEE verification. We have always tried to help our community with donations and allowing our staff to help with charities. Will this count towards our socio-economic development points?
20 May 2021
I have been informed by a colleague that I may need to look at implementing learnerships to improve the BEE level of my company. How do learnerships work and can they really provide such a benefit?
Being a director in a company does not necessarily stop you from holding shares in other companies. However, should your company transact with another company in which you have a shareholding stake and from which you could potentially benefit, it becomes important that you disclose such financial interest to your co-directors, even if you can&rsquo...
Our consultancy business has quite a diverse client base. Over the weekend, the laptop of one of our employees was stolen. The laptop contains personal information of our clients and it appears that it was not password protected making the data accessible. Will this be a data breach in terms of POPIA, and if so, what are we required to do?
Our company falls under the Generic BEE Codes. As we are 51% Black-owned but under R50 million turnover we have not undergone BEE verification but relied on a signed BEE affidavit confirming that we are an automatic level 2 B-BBEE contributor. Now it appears we may exceed the R50 million mark this year and have to verify as a Generic Enterprise. As...
I own a local store making custom items for our clients. Because of the nature of some of the client requests I have to use other suppliers and have to share basic information about my clients with them. I am aware of POPIA and I understand that we need to comply including to new regulations that I understand have been issued. My question is to wha...
I noted an article the other day that referred to tax restrictions for loop structures. What is a loop structure and how have restrictions been reduced?
I recently saw an article about the B-BBEE Commission requiring BEE compliance reports to be submitted to it. I don’t really know what a compliance report is or who must submit such. Will my business have to do this?
After losing a tender, we lodged a complaint with the department against their awarding of the tender to a bidder who we are aware operates in a less than reputable fashion. The department informed us they would cancel the tender. Subsequently we have heard that although the tender was cancelled, the department wants to enter into a settlement agre...
I’ve grown up signing our business contracts with pen on paper. With Covid however, most of my suppliers send me their agreements electronically which I sign by adding a copy of my signature digitally or, in some cases using specific software through which I then add my signature. It does make things easier, but I was wondering how valid and ...
Our company is owed money by one of our contractor companies who we helped with finance and provided us with personal sureties by the shareholders as security for the transaction. They have been making promises that they will pay for some time and we left it, but now we are getting worried about prescription. We are also unsure whether if we act ag...
My business is 26% black owned but has been excluded from a number of tenders because of pre-qualification criteria for tenders being set at being at least 51% black owned. I’ve seen in the news though that this practice has been scratched by the courts. Is this true?
The Minister of Finance has recently published proposed amendments to section 7C of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. The proposed amendments to section 7C target not only loan-based solutions, which was the original intention of the provision, but also corporate estates that make use of preference share structures.
I’m a minority shareholder in a company that has been approached by a buyer willing to buy out all the shareholders. Because of Covid-19 the company has suffered financially and I know that the shareholders holding more than 75% of the company will want to accept the offer even though I believe it to be far below the market value of the share...
I hold 20% shares in a private company that I bought into a few years ago. The majority shareholders heavily influence the directors who take decisions which in my view is not always in the best interests of the company or my own as a minority shareholder in the company. What remedies are available to me?
In my business I receive and store personal information of my clientele. I have a sign-up form for my new clients and was wondering whether I would be compliant with POPIA if I include a consent to process their information once-off in this form. Will this be sufficient for POPIA?
My business has automatic Level 4 BEE recognition because our annual turnover is below R10 million. However, a key client is requiring that we have to have at least a Level 3 BEE certificate meaning I will now have to verify. However, I had no planning in place to be able to do so in my previous financial year and I cannot wait until the current fi...
I’m a restauranteur and have suffered massive losses during the Covid-19 lockdown. I was just wondering whether there are any insurance options I may have or could look into to make up for some of the losses in my business due to Covid-19?
I’m the procurement manager for our company. We have a strong focus on BEE in our business and take great care in our procurement and the BEE position of our suppliers. Accordingly, I have noticed from the BEE certificates of many of our suppliers that they do quite poorly with their priority elements. This is strange, given the risk of dropp...
My business processes and stores quite a large amount of information relating to our clients. We are well aware of POPIA that has now come into effect and have been putting basic processes in place. However, I remain concerned that we are not doing enough/underestimating our obligations. What should I be preparing for?
How can a business rescue plan help my business in tough My business has been struggling since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown. I’ve been advised to consider business rescue but I am unsure about how I will get a business plan in place and what this will entail. Can you give some guidance here?times?
With all the Covid-19 happenings dominating the media lately, it nearly slipped through that some of the remaining provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act came into effect on 1 July 2020. Does this mean that all businesses must now comply?
Our company has for years prided itself on regular board and shareholder meetings as the basis for the success of our business. Initially we stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic but have started meeting again using online meeting tools. With the pandemic continuing we are worried that we are not meeting the requirements of the Companies Act by not ...
A year or two ago I asked my sister to stand as surety for me so I could buy a house for my family. I had a good job and felt comfortable in asking her to do so. She agreed and signed a surety agreement with the bank. With Covid-19 I’ve now lost my job and despite getting payment holidays from the bank, I’m not sure I will be ab...
I have a construction business that is operated in a close corporation. As we have not had much work during the last few months, my business has come under severe financial pressure. I still believe in the business and know things will pick up again, but right now we just don’t have the cashflow to pay our creditors. I’m considering bus...
I’m the only shareholder in my company, a cleaning products business. I have two directors who run the business for me. I’ve been building up the business over the years with a view to selling it as my retirement plan. However, the auditors have just informed me that the shares, in my mind worth about R10 million are now worth no more t...
Over the past few years I’ve come to understand what the Companies Act 71 of 2008 requires of me to manage my business legally and effectively. With talk of more amendments on the way, what should I be preparing for?