Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to podcast number two, season two. I thought that in this season, I would introduce the video. So it's something new to me, and I'm giving it my first shot. So please, please bear with me if it doesn't come out right. As accountants, normally accountants are not subject to change, but I'm one who's willing to try new things and also evolve. Just like VHA, we're always evolving and trying to get better at what we do for the client and serve the client. So let's get right in. The topic for this podcast is tax benefits you might not know about. So today we're talking about something that could literally put more money back in your pocket. Tax benefits that you do not know about. But here's the thing. Your accountant can't claim what they don't know about. So today, I'm going to walk you through a few opportunities you should absolutely tell your accountant about so you can get the correct tax treatment and maybe even lower your tax bill. The first item I'd like to look at is research and development allowance. If you're creating new products, software, processes, even if you are a small business, you might qualify for the research and development allowance. It lets you deduct 150% of the qualifying costs from your taxable income. Now, you do need approval from the Department of Science and Innovation, but it's worth checking if you qualify. So if you have been innovating, mention it to your accountant. Number two is the Learnership Tax Incentives. This one I quite like. This one's especially useful if you are investing in training with your staff. If you hire learners through a registered learnership, you can claim an additional deduction of up to R80,000 per learner or R120,000 for learners with disabilities. That's on top of the training that you've already paid for. The third one, home office claims. Since COVID, more people work from home, But businesses still forget you can claim certain expenses for home offices Things like rent, internet and electricity may be deductible or a portion they're off Number four, wear and tear on assets Everyone remembers to claim for big assets such as machinery But what about the small stuff? Your laptops, printers, cell phones and even some furniture These qualify for wear and tear allowances. And if the item costs less than 7,000 rand, you can often write it off completely in the year you buy it. You heard right, folks? So if you buy an asset, regardless of when you purchase it, in the year of assessment, you can write off the full value of the asset, provided it's under 7,000 rand in value. Point number five, small business corporation rates. So this is something that I've seen common that tax practitioners miss and accountants. When we take over new clients from an outgoing accountant, we notice that 9 out of 10 times the accountant hasn't applied his mind to the situation and has not screened the particular taxpayer or client for small business corporation rates. So what is the small business corporation rates? If your turnover is under a certain threshold and you meet a few conditions, you might qualify for small business corporation tax rates. And these are much lower than the standard 27% company rate. A lot of business owners don't even realize they qualify. So it's worth asking your accountant to check because as I said sometimes, they don't check. Point number six, bad debts written off. If you have customers who simply aren't going to pay, those debts can sometimes be written off and can reduce your taxable income. But it's important to do it in the right year and keep proper records. So those are just a few examples, folks. But remember, your accountant is only as powerful as the information you give to them. If you've made an unusual purchase, investing in training, starting a new project, or tried something new in your business, mention it. Even if you think it's not tax-related, one simple conversation could save you thousands of rands. That's all for today's episode. If you found this helpful, share it with another business owner who might be leaving money on the table. And if you have any questions about anything we discussed, drop them in the comments bar below or you're welcome to send me a message once again thank you for supporting this channel please like subscribe and share until next time this is Vidyanth Bhola cheers.