Dear Colleagues
BEE CERTIFICATES: MINIMUM SCORE NOW DEMANDED FOR BUSINESSES WITH ANNUAL TURNOVERS EXCEEDING R2,5 MILLION
During a recent webinar hosted by the PPRA, one of the executives made the shocking announcement that, instead of a valid BEE certificate, a QUALIFYING valid BEE certificate will be required on application by a business property practitioner (estate agency) when applying for an FFC or a renewal of an FFC.
The Act and Regulations stipulate only that a VALID BEE certificate, i.e. one issued by a verification agency with property sector scope and registered with SANAS, is required.
We have objected to this with the PPRA and are in the process of obtaining legal advice and we will communicate on this issue as soon as we have more information. For the moment only new applications are affected as renewals are only due after July next year.
As we may not succeed with our objection or the regulations may be changed by setting a minimum score, members are well advised to do their best to achieve the targets set in the Property Charter.
Many members want to proceed positively but have questions – especially about skills development.
To this end we have arranged a webinar to assist you.
Date: Tuesday 23 April 2024
Time: 11h00 to 12h30
Registration Link: https://www.rebosa.co.za/b-bbee-certificates-answers-free-webinar-april-2024/
Booking is essential to accommodate numbers on our platform.
Invite in the link below:
Please use this as an opportunity to have your questions answered.
PLEASE NOTE: This does not affect business property practitioners with an annual turnover of less than R 2.5 million as those entities are exempted.
BEE CERTIFICATES FOR BUSINESSES WITH AN ANNUAL TURNOVER OF LESS THAN R2,5 MILLION
Any estate agency firm with an annual total turnover of less than R2,5 million qualifies as an Exempted Micro-Enterprise (“EME”).
Exempted Micro Enterprises (“EMEs”) are exempt from obtaining a B-BBEE accreditation. This means they are not measured on a BEE scorecard and automatically receive a Level 4 rating.
Property Practitioners can submit an Affidavit, signed by a Commissioner of Oaths instead of acquiring a B-BBEE certificate. Once certified by a Commissioner of Oaths, the Affidavit functions as a B-BBEE certificate because no additional verification is necessary.
Download a copy of the affidavit below:-
https://www.rebosa.co.za/the-property-sector-charter-exempted-micro-enterprises-emes/
PLEASE NOTE:
The Affidavit must refer to your most recent financial year preceding the date of application after 1 July 2025 when you apply for your FFC renewal.
HISTORICAL PENALTIES
We are still in communication with the PPRA on this issue and are once again in the process of updating legal advice. We have reason to believe that this issue will be settled one way or the other soon.
FFC NUMBERING
Concerns have been raised about the new numbering process for FFCs. This does not affect any current FFCs and from an industry perspective serves very little purpose as FFCs have to indicate the industry in respect of which the FFC is applicable i.e. auctioneering, estate agency etc. One can assume it only assists the PPRA in reconfiguring their system and for the purpose of compiling statistics.
Please note that this does not affect your 7-digit reference number in any way. Your 7-digit reference number remains the same and should be quoted as the reference number on all payments made to PPRA and on any queries lodged on their online query system.
HOAs – ACCREDITATION FEES UPDATE
HOAs are slowly but surely coming to the realisation that the charging of accreditation fees is not in line with the legislation and the PPRA remains committed to enforce the regulations.
Rebosa has now obtained a legal opinion from a senior advocate.
The legal opinion can be downloaded below:
We have shared this with the PPRA and you are welcome to do the same with any HOAs you are dealing with.
CPD – CLARIFICATION ON FEE INCREASE – 2024 NOT OPEN YET
We have been advised that the CPD fees will be increased with effect 1 April 2024 in line with the regulations. Unfortunately, the new fees have not been published as yet.
Should you have made payment after 1 April 2024 you will be advised of a top-up amount. Given this, it might be best to wait for the new fee structure to be published before making a payment.
Fees paid before 1 April 2024 will remain as per the previous schedule i.e. R1 604.00
WORKPLACE SKILLS PLAN (WSP) AND AN ANNUAL TRAINING REPORT (ATR)
The notice issued by the PPRA “URGENT REMINDER BEE COMPLIANCE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CUT-OFF DATE” has caused enormous confusion and unnecessary panic in the industry especially for the smaller independent firms who are not affected by the notice.
All businesses with a payroll of more than R500 000 per year ((including wages, overtime payments, leave pay, bonuses, fees, commissions and lump sum payments), are required by law to pay 1% of their annual payroll to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) as a contribution to the Skills Development Levy (SDL). SARS then assigns the SDL to the relevant SETA. In the real estate sector, it is the Services SETA.
Employers can then claim back up to 20% of their Skills Development Levy (SDL) by submitting an Annual Training Report (ATR) and Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) to the SSETA by 30 April each year. These payments, which are called mandatory grants, are paid by the SSETA every quarter.
The Mandatory Grants refund in turn can be reinvested back into skills development by the employer.
Employers whose payroll does not exceed R500.000 are not required to pay the SDL.
Employers who do not wish to claim back the 20% of their Skills Development Levy do not have to submit an Annual Training Report (ATR) and Workplace Skills Plan (WSP).
Therefore;
Payroll exceeding R500 000 must pay 1% of total salary bill to SARS for Skills Development Levy
Payroll below R500 000 do not pay Skills Development Levy to SARS
Companies who pay the SDL and wish to claim back 20% of their contribution must submit the ATR and WSP before 30 April 2024 (done on the Services SETA LMIS – it is an online submission – access link for more information (https://www.servicesseta.org.za/employers/)
Companies who pay the SDL and who do not wish to claim back 20% of their contribution do not have to submit the ATR and WSP.
Every year, SSETA open the application window between December and April. To help employers comply with the requirements, SSETA also offer capacity-building workshops.
Submissions are to be made annually.
The Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) outlines the existing skills shortage in a company and describes the steps a company will take to address the shortage through various training initiatives. The Annual Training Report (ATR) documents the progress made in implementing the previous year’s WSP.
Workplace Skills Plans (WSP) document skills needs in an organisation and describe the range of skills development interventions that an organisation will use to address these needs. Businesses are required to report against their WSP in an Annual Training Report (ATR) that shows how they have addressed the priority skills defined in their WSP.
THE BEE SCORECARD AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
It is important to note that submission and approval of the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Annual Training Report (ATR) are crucial for unlocking the Skills Development Element of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Scorecard.
Note: Non-submission and acceptance of WSP and ATR will result in no points being scored for the Skills Development element of the B-BBEE scorecard.
Questions relating to this matter will be answered in the webinar we are hosting on 23 April, as mentioned in the beginning of this report.
I look forward to seeing you all virtually next week.
Kind regards
Jan le Roux