VHA Accounting Solutions Podcast

It often starts with a simple swipe of the company card for a personal expense, but it can lead to an accounting nightmare. In this episode, we expose the silent risks of mixing personal and business finances—from unintended tax penalties and cash flow confusion to complex audit challenges. Learn why maintaining clear financial boundaries is the most effective way to protect your business’s health and longevity.

Season 3, Episode 1 of the VHA podcast with Vidyanth Bhola examines why profitable businesses can still run out of cash. The episode explains the difference between accounting profit and actual cash, and how credit terms, rising costs, and rapid growth can strain liquidity.
It outlines practical steps smart owners take—weekly cash monitoring, three-month cash forecasts, prompt invoicing, debtor follow-up, and careful stock and expense management—to keep the business solvent despite growth pressures.

This episode explains the differences between NPOs, NPCs and PBOs in South Africa, covering what each term means, how to register them, and when each structure is appropriate.Listeners will learn step-by-step setup, tax implications including Section 18A approval, audit and compliance requirements, common pitfalls, and practical tips for running a compliant and fundable non-profit.

This episode explains how South Africa's unchanged VAT registration threshold of R1 million has been eroded by inflation, creating extra costs, admin and competitive disadvantages for small businesses.We cover the practical impacts, real-life examples, steps entrepreneurs can take now, and a call for policy change to raise the threshold and support growth.

In this episode, Vidyanth Bhola breaks down the pros and cons of investing in property, share portfolios, and bank products in South Africa, covering income potential, risks, liquidity and costs.
He explains how property offers tangible assets and rental income, shares provide long-term growth and liquidity but with volatility, and bank products give safety and predictability but typically low returns.
The episode recommends a balanced approach: keep an emergency cushion in the bank, invest in diversified shares for growth, and consider property for stability and rental income—matched to your goals, risk appetite, and time horizon.

Vidyanth Bhola explains revaluation of property, plant and equipment under IFRS and IFRS for SMEs, covering how upward revaluations impact other comprehensive income, trigger deferred tax, increase depreciation and create earnings volatility.
Learn the practical trade-offs and disclosures SMEs should consider before choosing the revaluation model.

This episode explains SARS's intensified enforcement on trusts, the risk that many trusts remain unregistered, and the severe tax and personal liabilities trustees can face.It outlines key compliance requirements — SARS registration, annual ITR12T and IT3T filings, and accurate record keeping — and gives practical steps such as audits, trustee education, and using trust-specific accounting to stay compliant.

Vidyanth Bhola breaks down outright purchases, instalment/hire-purchase agreements and leases, explaining how each is recorded in the books, treated for tax in South Africa, and how they affect cash flow.
Short examples and practical tips help business owners decide between preserving cash, owning assets, or maximizing tax and interest deductions.

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.