Small Business Articles
Plain-language articles on running a small business in South Africa: tax, invoicing, structure, and cash flow.
Credit notes vs cancelled invoices: how to correct a mistake properly
A credit note is a tax document and a cancelled status is not. When VAT Act section 21 requires a credit note, what it must contain, and how to fix a mistake on an invoice.
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Invoice numbering rules in South Africa: what SARS actually requires
The VAT Act asks for an individual serialized number on every tax invoice. What that means in practice, how to number invoices, and what to do with cancelled ones.
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How to invoice a corporate client that issues purchase orders
Corporate clients often won't pay without their PO number on your invoice. How to invoice against a purchase order, the mistakes that stall payment, and the PO field we added to quotes and invoices.
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Director loan accounts in South Africa: what we're tracking, and why it only ever goes one way
What a director's loan account actually tracks, why we've only ever put money in, and why we're planning to take dividends instead of drawings once ShellRick Tech turns a profit.
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How to register a Pty Ltd on CIPC: the full process and costs
What registering a Pty Ltd on CIPC BizPortal actually costs and involves, from our own registration: R125 without a name, R175 with one, and the bank account mix-up that followed.
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Turnover tax vs standard tax: which is better for your business
Turnover Tax trades simplicity for lost deductions. Who qualifies, what it replaces, and why it suits low-expense micro businesses but hurts ones with real costs.
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PAYE and UIF for your first employee
What hiring your first employee actually triggers with SARS and the Department of Labour: PAYE registration, UIF, EMP201 and EMP501, and the mistakes first-time employers make.
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What happens if you submit your VAT201 late
The penalty and interest SARS charges for a late or unpaid VAT201, how the 10% penalty is calculated, when it can be remitted, and how to avoid missing the date again.
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Zero-rated vs exempt supplies: what is the difference
Zero-rated and exempt supplies both charge no VAT, but they are not the same thing. What each covers, why the difference changes what you can claim back, and how to invoice correctly for both.
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Running multiple businesses from one account
How SortedNexus Pro keeps invoices, quotes, clients, and cash flow separate for each business you run, switched from one login, and what stays shared across all of them.
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Compliance Calendar: SARS and CIPC deadlines automated
See every SARS and CIPC deadline that applies to your business in one list, built automatically from your VAT number, entity type, and CIPC registration date.
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PayFast Transaction Sync: automatic income tracking on Pro
Connect your PayFast merchant account to SortedNexus Pro and see paid sales, and PayFast's own commission, land in your Cash Flow Tracker automatically. What still needs a manual entry.
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Regulatory compliance for small businesses in South Africa
What regulatory compliance actually covers for a South African sole trader or small business, what it costs to get wrong, and why the deadlines are the hardest part to manage.
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Quoting and invoice record keeping in South Africa: why both matter
Why a written quote protects you before a job starts, why every invoice needs to be kept for years afterward, and how to build a record trail that survives a dispute or a SARS review.
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CIPC Beneficial Ownership filing: submit it before your Annual Return
CIPC will not accept your Annual Return until your Beneficial Ownership filing is up to date. What it is, and why the deadline is tied to your registration date, not your financial year end.
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Tracking business expenses in South Africa: what to log and why it pays off
What to log for every expense, how input VAT gets claimed back, and how expense tracking on Starter compares to the Annual Financial Summary on Pro.
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Getting your books ready for your CIPC Annual Return: what we built and why
We added a Statement of Comprehensive Income to SortedNexus, built straight from your invoices and expenses. What it does, what it does not do, and why.
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Why we built SortedNexus: the small business admin toolkit South Africa needed
We ran a small South African tech business and could not find admin tools that actually worked for us: the right price, the right VAT rules, built for ZAR. So we built SortedNexus.
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Provisional tax for sole traders in South Africa
What provisional tax is, who has to pay it, when the deadlines are, and how to calculate your first and second provisional tax payments.
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How to write a business quote in South Africa
The difference between a quote and an invoice, what every quote must include to be legally useful, and how to get more quotes accepted.
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What is a sole proprietor in South Africa?
How a sole proprietorship works, how it differs from a Pty (Ltd), what taxes you pay, and whether you need to register with CIPC.
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