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Thread: Church registration

  1. #1
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    Church registration

    Hi guys

    Compliments of the season to all.

    I am assisting a church to get their affairs in order.

    They have been operating for 10 years and have not formally registered their church although they have an income tax number, and an exemption l letter from SARS.
    I have added the new client on my efiling profile and awaiting the 48 hours before I can begin submitting their returns, going back to 2010!

    I have no experience with churches so need some advice please.
    Must a church be registered with CIPC and the department of social services?
    I am assuming once the above is done can I apply for a section 18A (donations)?
    This church would also like to register for VAT. Reason being they are about to begin construction on a new site and they would like to claim back any input vat they may incur during the construction phase. (One of their members who was handling their affairs made enquiries with SARS and apparently they were told that they could indeed register, member has subsequently died so no idea who advised him).

    I am doing this pro bono so would prefer not spend hours trying to figure out what needs to be done.

    Please if any one has any experience in this regard or advise, I would really appreciate it.

    Thanking you in advance.
    Kavesh

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    Hi kavesh

    For CIPC registration see https://www.gov.za/services/register...profit-company

    Vat registration is not that clear cut:
    "It follows, for example, that to the extent that a person –
    • does not make any supplies of goods or services to another person; or
    • only makes supplies of goods or services to other persons for no consideration; or
    • only makes exempt supplies or out-of-scope supplies for VAT purposes;
    that person may not register for VAT."

    So the question as I see it is what taxable supplies are made?

    See the VAT 414 Guide

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    Quote Originally Posted by Andromeda View Post
    Hi kavesh

    For CIPC registration see https://www.gov.za/services/register...profit-company

    Vat registration is not that clear cut:
    "It follows, for example, that to the extent that a person –
    • does not make any supplies of goods or services to another person; or
    • only makes supplies of goods or services to other persons for no consideration; or
    • only makes exempt supplies or out-of-scope supplies for VAT purposes;
    that person may not register for VAT."

    So the question as I see it is what taxable supplies are made?

    See the VAT 414 Guide
    Thanks for the reply. With regards to VAT they make and cannot see them making any taxable supplies going forward, they are a church after all.

    I was chatting to a friend who belongs to another church and he told me that they are not registered with CIPC, but the department of social services. So now I am a little confused, do these organisations have the option to register with either CIPC or department of social services or is it dependent of some form of criteria.

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    Hi kavesh, yes you dont have to register with CIPC, but it is easier'. There are various organisations that will assist you, but (perhaps deliberately) they confuse the issues regarding NPC, NPO and PBO.

    Firstly, at CIPC you can register as a non profit company either with members or without members. If I remember right the cost is R250 including a name reservation.

    Then you should at least register at your provincial social development office. See this link, but the information is old; where they refer to a Sec. 21 company it is now an NPC (They are only 9 years late)
    https://www.gov.za/services/register...t-organisation

    A PBO is a public benefit organisation. This registration is required to issue a Sec 18A receipt to a donor. You would register as one with SARS see this link
    https://www.gov.za/services/company-...t-organisation

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    Hello

    I have been trying unsuccessfully on efiling to get the church active on my profile. I have done the "organisation tax types" activation. However the status always remains as "awaiting verification" . SARS has not contacted to advise if they require further information.
    I have contacted the call centre several times and depending on who you speak to the answer is different. Nothing helpful. I have twice asked for an escalation, the first time someone contacted me saying that there was insufficient details on the system when the church was registered for Income Tax. I asked how I can update this and was advised that only the church is able to do this. Is that correct? About a week later the case was closed indicating a lack of response, which is wrong as no request was made for anything by SARS.
    I am awaiting a call from SARS now on the second case escalation but it has been 5 days now I think.

    I would really appreciate advise on how to proceed on this.

    Thank you.

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    Hi Kavesh

    In such instances I have deregistered the tax types. Then after 48 hours reregistered the tax type, and the problem was resolved. In fact the most recent one took 3 days from slotting in the number; I only received notice today. I presume it is a manual intervention and as we know they are erm, totally inundated with staff at present.

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    kavesh (03-Mar-21)

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    Unhappy

    Quote Originally Posted by Andromeda View Post
    Hi Kavesh

    In such instances I have deregistered the tax types. Then after 48 hours reregistered the tax type, and the problem was resolved. In fact the most recent one took 3 days from slotting in the number; I only received notice today. I presume it is a manual intervention and as we know they are erm, totally inundated with staff at present.
    Hi Andromeda

    I have tried that to no avail. I have been trying since the beginning of January 2021.

    I have even deleted their profile from my efiling profile and added in again, no luck.

    The pastor is over 70 and not keen to go sit at SARS to fix whatever is required. I am hoping I receive a call from a competent SARS agent this time round. Time will tell.

    This process is delaying me in applying for their section 18 status, which they are desperate for as they begin construction soon and would like to issue certificates to all who may donate to their development.

    So frustrating.....

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    So it turns out that the banking details for the church was never verified. Man it took how many months to get this answer!

    Anyways only the chairman from the church was able to do this according to the SARS agent. They have now done this, had to go twice to SARS as even though they were told the first time all was in order, when I tried to load the profile on my efiling, it still was not working. I called SARS who said that the banking details was still not verified. When I referred them to the reference number the church representative had the agent could see that the banking details was loaded but not verified.
    What a run around this turned out to be.

  11. Thanks given for this post:

    Andromeda (18-May-21)

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