How Important Are Tax Clearances if You Want to Buy Property?
Tax clearances keep many prospective property buyers from ever owning immovable property of their own. Banks and other lending institutions are strict when it comes to tax clearances regarding bond applications.
If you plan to buy property, do not become a statistic of failed bond applications because your taxes are not in order.
What You Need to Know
Tax clearances are basically certificates from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to indicate that your taxes are in order. This means your tax returns have been filed and payments have been made.
When Do You Need Clearance?
If you own a business, you will find that in many instances, you need tax clearances. It can be for the purpose of imports or because you want to tender for a government project. Maybe you want to borrow money from the bank to expand your business, or maybe you want to emigrate. In any of these instances, you need help from experienced tax consultants to get the clearances.
Get Your Taxes Up to Date
The above is especially true if your taxes are not quite up to date. First, you need to pay the ferryman before you can cross the water to the island of your dreams. Do not despair if your taxes are not quite up to date. Our tax consultants can also help to bring your returns up to date and to ensure compliance with all the requirements of SARS.
Gain Access to Opportunities
Having the relevant tax clearances can open doors for you when it comes to getting finance approval. Even if you buy property on the rent-to-own basis, at the end of the day, the tax clearance certificates stand between being able to purchase and transfer property to your name and going through life as a tenant.
Use the Opportunity to Comply
Indeed, SARS uses property transfers as a means to ensure compliance with tax requirements. Even the real estate agents and sellers of properties must ensure tax clearances are in place.
Fortunately, SARS does give you the opportunity to rectify your tax situation, but doing so can hinder the transfer of the property and thus cause costly delays. To this end, banks are upfront about the requirement for a tax clearance certificate.
What to Do Next
The good news is that now that you know how important it is to get your taxes up to date in order to get the required certificates, you can take the next step. Call on our consultants to help calculate, complete, and submit your taxes, as well as apply for the relevant tax clearances.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Call on us for professional legal advice, rather than relying on the information herein to make any decisions. The information is relevant to the date of publishing.