Public Officer Duties

Before we get to what Public Officer Duties consist of, we need to understand the very important role a public officer plays in any company, especially with regard to the Income Tax Act and the South African Revenue Services (SARS).

In fact, every company that’s registered in South Africa is required by SARS to appoint a public officer, and that appointment has to be carried out within one month of beginning to carry out business. The same applies for any company that rents or buys an office in South Africa.

So strict is this expectation, that if a company fails to appoint a public officer on their own account, the Commissioner at SARS can designate either a member (if it’s a CC), a company secretary or director, to serve as public officer for the company.

Should a company fail to appoint a public officer, or change their public officer without notifying SARS within the time period as stipulated by the Commissioner, the company could start accumulating administrative non-compliance penalties, which is the last thing any company needs in the current economic climate.

Ultimately, the public officer is viewed by SARS as the tax-face of the company, and is held responsible for all tax-related registrations, de-registrations, submissions and tax payments.

Public officer duties

Not only does the public officer of any company carry all tax-related issues on their shoulders, they are also held accountable for all the duties they carry out, as if those actions have been carried out by the company.

A public officer has to be a person that is approved of by SARS, and they have to reside in South Africa, both of which are very important points.

There is so much on the plate of any public officer, so we’ll take a peek at the tip of the ice-berg here when it comes to public officer duties, which include, inter alia;

• Your registration as an employer
• Your registration as a taxpayer
• Submission of employees’ tax monthly declarations
• Submission of employees’ annual tax returns
• Submission of annual tax returns
• Submission of provisional tax returns
• All tax registrations, which include VAT, Income Tax, PAYE, SDL (Skills Development Levy) and UIF
• Maintaining a proactive, timeous payment of all the above-mentioned taxes due to SARS, in order to retain a stable reputation and to avoid costly penalties
• Notification of any change of company particulars as registered with SARS, such as a change of address or company name, as well as verification of banking details
• Acceptance of any notices that may be served against your company by SARS

By now there can be no doubt that you understand the extremely important role played by a public officer in South Africa, because what you see above really cannot begin to cover the full extent of a public officer’s duties.

What a daunting career choice this would be for most of us, which makes one most grateful there are people able to create magic out of numbers and tax affairs, to keep our company’s on the straight and narrow!

Need help with Public Officer Duties in South Africa?

Should you wish to know more about getting tailored assistance to keep your company’s tax affairs in order, as well as meeting all your statutory requirements, speak to the well-respected team at Kilgetty to find out more about their Public Officer Services.

Kilgetty Public Officer Services was born out of the fact that Kilgetty Statutory Services is considered South Africa’s leading Company Secretarial Platform, designed to tailor all corporate services according to individual company requirements and budgets.