21 December 2017 SMME, what you should know SMME NEWS 5 By Oyewo Adetola Elizabeth On the 14th of November 201 7, SMME News took interest as the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) was presented at the Towns and Gown event which was held at the Standard Bank Centre in Durban. The ETI legislature was introduced in January 2014, to encourage employers to hire young people by reducing the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax payable to SARS, in turn reducing the cost of employment to the employer while leaving the employee’s earnings unaffected. The aim of the ETI is to facilitate the increase employment of young work seekers who are excluded from participating in economic activity, and as a result suffer disproportionately from unemployment, discouragement and economic marginalisation. This presents a win-win situation for both small businesses and their potential Understanding the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) employees; and SMMEs can take advantage of this incentive in strategically positioning their businesses financially for minimal tax payments to SARS. Apart from reduced tax payments to SARS, the other benefits of ETI to your business are: 1. Employers will be able to claim the incentive for a 24 month period for all employees who qualify. 2. The incentive amount differs based on the salary paid to each qualifying employee and whether the qualifying employee was employed after the inception of the ETI programme on 1 October 2013. ETI may only be claimed for a total of 24 qualifying months. 3. This incentive will complement existing government programmes with similar objectives e.g. learnership agreements. The employer is eligible to claim the ETI if the employer is registered for Employees’ Tax (PAYE), or is eligible to register for PAYE, meaning that the employer can’t register just to claim ETI, other registration requirements must be met. The employer must not in the national, provincial or local sphere of government; not be a public entity listed in Schedule 2 or 3 of the Public Finance Management; not be a municipal entity; and lastly not be disqualified by the Minister of Finance due to the displacement of an employee or by not meeting the conditions as may be prescribed by the Minister by regulation. An individual is a qualifying employee if he or she has a valid South African ID, Asylum Seeker permit or an ID issued in terms of the Refugee Act; is 18 to 29 years old; is not a domestic worker; is not a “connected person” to the employer; was employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after 1 October 2013 and is paid the minimum wage applicable to that employer or if a minimum wage doesn’t apply, is paid a wage of at least R2 000 (where the qualifying employee was employed for 160 hours in a month) and not more than R6 000 remuneration. So as a business owner how do you apply for ETI? The employer has to calculate their ETI and claim it every 12 months. The value of the ETI the employer may claim depends on the value of the monthly remuneration paid to the qualifying employee. If the employee has worked less than 160 hours in the month, the remuneration amount must be ‘grossed up’ to 160 hours per month to calculate the value of the ETI. The amount can then be calculated and be ‘grossed down’ in the same ratio. There is no limit to the number of qualifying employees that an employer can hire. For more information about the ETI visit your nearest SARS office, www.sars.gov.za or call 0800 00 7277. Personal Money needs to be separated from Business Money By Oyewo Adetola The BMF (Black Management Forum) seminar tagged ‘Youth entrepreneurship, innovation and Skills Development’, was held at Nedbank Head office in Durban, Thursday 30 November 2017. The aim of the seminar was to unearth insights and develop smart strategies to help young entrepreneurs to get ahead in business. ‘This is because there is increase from 26% unemployment rate to 27% and high rate of stay at home graduate. We live in VUCA, an acronym for Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguity’ world, which can be overcome by VUCA, an acronym for Vision Understanding Clarity Agility’ were the words of Melanie Reddy, Nedbank KZN provincial Manager-Relationship Banking. Lindani Hlongwane, BMF eKasi Chairperson identified constraints to selfemployment as lack of financial, human and social capital as a result of lack of youth exposure to entrepreneur culture. He also reiterated the importance of nonreliance on one source of cash flow and defining your niche market. ‘Opportunities are everywhere, you just need to find your niche market and specialize’ he says. The reasons SMMEs do not survive within the one year of existence is financial indiscipline, Telavukosi Mabasa, Nedbank Public Affairs Manager, highlighted accelerating women empowerment and overcoming challenges pertinent to women in business -‘We are not the bad guys because we do not lend money’, Melanie Reddy says. The reasons for loan decline is that banks do not borrow people who are at high risk based on credit scoring record obtainable from Transunion who verify credit records and scores. Transunion verify credit record and scores an individual which lenders use to make lending decisions when borrowing. Credit score is a number that reflects the likelihood of a borrower paying back a credit. Lenders like banks and credit card companies look at credit history when they calculate credit scores which will show them the level of risk in lending to a borrower. This can be information from credit hubs such as insurance life cover and Jet/Edgars credit account. The key lessons for nurturing entrepreneurship include delayed gratification, mentorship, and financial discipline. Intervention for inculcating a culture of entrepreneurship includes entrepreneurial programmes, microfinance, financial literacy programmes, networking and mentoring between established and emerging entrepreneurs. ‘Managing money is a culture that should be developed from childhood through piggy bank’, Thembinkosi Mtshali, Nedbank Sales Support Manger, says. So if you want to register your company with CIPC, Nedbank will register it at the cost R1750 with an added advantage of a BEE certificate. Nedbank also offers a financial literacy programme to your organization. SMEs can also log on to simplybiz.co.za to ask questions, spark discussion, get advice, share your stories, promote and build a like-minded network in their business journey