Firstly, I love this website. I get so much good advice here. So thank you. I am a very hands-on business owner when it comes to our finances and taxes so instead of employing someone fulltime I prefer to learn it myself so when I do eventually hand it over to someone else I will have the knowledge to see that they are doing their work correct. Call me paranoid but bad book keeping and accounting individuals/firms sunk my father in laws business. I have a book keeper that helps me from time to time and then of course our CC has an accountant so not to worry I am not completely helpless.

Our business has done exceptionally well to the point now where I am creeping up to the VAT threshold (R1mil) on turnover. I might fall under this by end Feb but I might not so I am thinking best to register now - it will be inevitable anyway and its professional to charge vat.

I have form VAT101e so will get done done with all the extra bits and go to Sars in person.
So my questions (yes yes they are extremely novice) are:

Do I start charging VAT immediately once I am registered? Might I end up in a situation where I get the VAT registration certificate with an earlier date and then I never charged vat on invoices issued during that period of waiting for the certificate? I use Quickbooks accounting and will turn on the VAT feature and set it all up once I get the registration certificate.
Do you guys recommend I keep this money aside in a separate account so as to not end up spending it? We are a small business and financial planning is vital!
When is VAT payable for a CC? Do you also pay it over twice a year like provisional tax? If so when? What tax forms do you fill out for this when making payment?
Will my accountant then also do a VAT return for the CC and if so when?
Vat codes - how do these work in general and I presume I can find this on SARS website?
Anything else useful I should know?

Thanks a mil!
B