Understanding Company Tax Adjustments and Assessed Losses

This page explains what the Beam Machine ITR14 worksheet is actually showing and what a South African company-tax reviewer still needs to do before treating the number as filing-ready.

Product: Beam Machine
Module: Tax -> ITR14 / EMP201 Preparation
Role: Accountant, Tax Preparer, Finance Manager, Reviewer
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 12 minutes
Last Updated: 2026-03-10
Version: Current Beam Machine app build in this repo

Before You Start

• You need access to Tax and the relevant entity.
• Year-end accounting data should already be materially clean.
• You should understand that accounting profit and taxable income are not the same thing.

What is this page?

This is the "do not be fooled by a neat tax number" page.

Beam Machine currently gives you an ITR14 — Company Income Tax Return worksheet on the ITR14 / EMP201 Preparation route. That route is useful, but it is still only a starting point. The screen pulls a profit-based view from the books and applies the visible company-tax rate logic. It does not expose the full dynamic SARS ITR14 form or every company-tax schedule.

When do you use this?

Use this page when:

• someone is treating the BM tax worksheet as final taxable income,
• you need to explain why the app number still needs technical review,
• or you are reconciling financial statements to the tax pack.

If you skip this step, you risk filing accounting profit with a tax label on it.

Where do you find the underlying BM screen?

Primary path: Finance -> Tax -> ITR14 / EMP201
Route: /dashboard/tax/itr14-prep

Supporting routes:

• Reports -> Reporting -> Financial Reports
• Accounting -> Reports

How to interpret the BM company-tax worksheet

1. Open Tax.
2. Click ITR14 / EMP201.
3. Review the ITR14 — Company Income Tax Return card.
4. Read the figures in this order:
   • Revenue
   • Less: Cost of Sales
   • Gross Profit
   • Less: Operating Expenses
   • Net Profit Before Tax
   • Tax @ 27%

✅ Checkpoint: You are looking at a profit-based worksheet, not yet a fully adjusted tax computation.

5. Open supporting financial statements if the BM number looks strange.
6. Ask which tax adjustments still sit outside the current BM screen.
7. Reconcile the worksheet back to your tax working papers before using it in a SARS filing process.

What still needs external review?

The BM worksheet does not, by itself, prove that the final taxable-income computation is complete. A South African company-tax review can still require items such as:

• non-deductible expenses and fines,
• accounting depreciation versus tax allowances,
• capital versus revenue distinctions,
• assessed-loss utilization limits,
• capital gains treatment,
• foreign tax credits,
• special deduction rules,
• and entity-specific schedules that SARS may trigger dynamically in the real ITR14.

Assessed loss rule users should understand

South African company-tax rules can limit how much carried-forward assessed loss is set off in a year of assessment. In practical terms, that means:

• the BM profit figure is not enough on its own,
• the assessed-loss position still needs its own calculation trail,
• and the tax reviewer must confirm the allowed set-off before relying on the final tax payable number.

If you do not do this review, a clean-looking BM worksheet can still produce the wrong final company-tax answer.

What Beam Machine does and does not do today

• Beam Machine does provide a quick worksheet from current accounting data.
• Beam Machine does help finance and tax users start the ITR14 preparation process.
• Beam Machine does not currently expose the full SARS ITR14 wizard, all conditional containers, or every technical company-tax schedule in the live UI.
• Beam Machine does not remove the need for professional company-tax review.

Common Questions & Issues

"The page already says ITR14, so why is it not final?"

Why this happens: The title sounds like the actual return.

Fix: Treat the current BM screen as a preparation worksheet unless your delivery team has separately proven deeper ITR14 capability in your environment.

"The company tax amount is just 27% of profit"

Why this happens: The visible worksheet starts from book profit and applies the live tax-rate logic.

Fix: Reconcile the figure through tax adjustments before using it as a final filing number.

"Our assessed loss is large, so the BM number must be wrong"

Why this happens: Assessed-loss utilization can be limited and is not the same thing as simply netting old losses against current profit.

Fix: Check the assessed-loss working paper and tax review notes before final sign-off.

"Can I ignore capital allowances because depreciation already exists in the books?"

Why this happens: Users confuse accounting depreciation with tax allowances.

Fix: Review fixed-asset tax treatment separately. Book depreciation and tax deduction are not automatically identical.

What's Next

• Read 12-understanding-fixed-asset-tax-allowances-and-recoupments.md if tax depreciation is the real issue.
• Read 09-reviewing-tax-provisions.md if the company-tax review affects the provision number.

Related Pages

• 03-preparing-itr14-and-emp201.md
• 09-reviewing-tax-provisions.md
• ../11-accounting-ledger-reports-and-close.md
• ../reports/01-running-financial-reports.md

SA Compliance Reference

• South African company income tax for companies is currently applied at 27% for years of assessment ending on or after 31 March 2023.
• The real ITR14 process is dynamic and can require supporting schedules and documents depending on the entity facts.
• Keep the full tax computation, assessed-loss schedule, capital-allowance support, and review sign-off in the formal tax file outside the app.

Still Stuck?

• If the BM tax number and your tax pack differ, reconcile the accounting profit bridge first.
• If someone is promising full ITR14 automation from the current route, check 13-mapping-sa-tax-scope-to-live-bm-pages.md.
• Contact support: support@veva.co.za

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