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Thread: Red Tape Why Why Why???!!!

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    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    Red Tape Why Why Why???!!!

    Why is there so much red tape when starting a business?

    Is it because business people are crooks? Well, everybody treats you like one when applying to open a business account at a bank (banks are one of the unfriendliest, wasteful places to be after supermarkets). What do they do with the reams of paper generated? Our documentation and copies of FICA and other documents was the equivalent of about three big trees. FICA must be the biggest waste of time since the invention of worry beads. Every time you visit the bank, they take another copy of your ID. The banks can pay their CEO's millions just from recycling the paper that they generate!

    Choosing a company name that is descriptive and appropriate for your business is bad enough, but getting it approved and registered is another story. CIPC is not easy to deal with, so I went through The Shelf Company who does everything for you.

    I am fortunate to have a good accountant (CA), but it can be a daunting task to choose someone who can add value to your business and inform us of pitfalls, tax and what is going on in our businesses. Most entrepreneurs know nothing about accounting or financial management, so we need a lot of guidance. An accountant that does not take an interest in your business, or a "cheapie" that does the accounts only to please the tax man can cost you.

    Registering for tax is easy, but they also have too many forms. The SARS people treat new clients better than the banks. At least they know that here is another potential cow to milk. However, registering for VAT is not so easy. You first have to prove that you have the turnover, before you are allowed to register. In the meantime, you are not competitive as you cannot reclaim your input VAT. You can also not get contracts or tenders as you need a VAT number first. So trade at a potential loss until you can show turnover in your account.

    Now there is still UIF, PAYE, EIA, all sorts of levies, telephones and utility accounts. I won't bore you with that. The business owners will know what I'm talking about.
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    Diamond Member Citizen X's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blurock View Post
    The banks can pay their CEO's millions just from recycling the paper that they generate!

    .
    The exorbitant service fees and failure to pass on savings on paper, time and queues with the advent of internet banking demonstrates that the banks are the actual ‘Bank Robbers!’
    They robbing us by charging such high service fees


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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    And it just gets worse from there. The volume of forms and additional info you have to give to be an accredited supplier / service provider for any government department/agency, or any fairly large company is getting bigger and bigger too.

    I've easily spent two full working days in time on red tape related issues this week, and I'm in for another 2 days next week minimum by the looks of things too. And this is for an existing business, mainly just following up on stuff that hasn't been processed as it should have by the departments concerned.

    A Workmans Compensation claim which hasn't been registered despite everything being sent off weeks ago.
    Electrical contractors registration with DoL (effectively arising from change in process and zero continuity from the previous regime).
    A tax clearance application that went South for an as yet unknown reason, but clearly an event that predates eFiling records which shows everything's hunky dory.
    Two client supplier registration applications - one of which requires the same information over and over and over again across 47 pages, just in a different format.


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    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    Have to go back to SARS as their printer ran out of paper and could only print ONE tax clearance certificate. Copies of TCC is not allowed by govt. departments. So stand in the queue again, waste more time....
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    I had a little chuckle to myself as I am busy filling out Telkom forms for an additional shop.I have tried getting Eskom connected in one of our other new shops for the past 3 weeks,yes 3 weeks.I have payed the R5000 deposit and have probably made in the region of 50 phone calls to get this working.

    I can see why a lot of people just give up.At the end of the day it is not going to get any better soon and we will just have to make a plan to either bear with the inconvenience or find another way.It does consume a lot of time!!!!

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    You know, rereading the whole thread it's clear there's a pattern here - and not only does it seem excessive, the trend is going the wrong way too.

    We still haven't answered the question - "WHY?"

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    Diamond Member wynn's Avatar
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    Well you see the reason is because why?
    I am in need of a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken if you are in need of service, you give me give.

    Seriously just walk into the government department with a box of hot KFC and service will be instantaneous, I know, I know it is not supposed to be like this but what the hell, stand around for a week or spend R20 on some chicken?
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    Haha,Wynn you hit the nail on the head right there! Our last Telkom problem was sorted with a product donation to one of the local Telkom guys driving past.

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