Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal has launched the In-Contact Program which will see the Association contacting and visiting each and every member over the next twelve months or so.

One of the primary reasons for the Program is to allow the Association to build and strengthen relationships with members, and exchange information.  The Association is constantly striving to provide services and benefits which are in alignment with the needs of members in the running of their businesses. By exchanging information, the Association will be better positioned to know what members require, and members will also know exactly what the Association offers them.

It is also essential that the Association gets the most comprehensive information possible about the size and nature of the various member enterprises, and in particular about the nature of work undertaken by the members.  This will allow the Association, through the Find-a-Builder module on the website, as well as other channels, to promote the use of the member to the public and other members in the most effective way possible.

Contractors and subcontractors often argue that they have been forced to accelerate the works to overcome delays caused by the architect, engineer or principal agent.  Normally, in the absence of an agreement to accelerate, the contractor is not entitled to decide unilaterally to accelerate and expect the employer to pay the costs.

The contractor or subcontractor may, however, argue that he chose to accelerate faced with the agent's refusal or neglect to grant a proper extension of time.  This is sometimes referred to as a constructive acceleration order.

Constructive acceleration is defined by the US Corps of Engineers as;

'An act or failure to act by the Employer which does not recognize that the contractor has encountered excusable delay for which he is entitled to a time extension and which required the contractor to accelerate his programme in order to complete the contract requirements by the existing contract completion date.  This situation may be brought about by the Employer's denial of a valid request for a contract time extension or by the Employer's untimely granting of a time extension.'

The liquidation of a company does not, save for certain exceptions which are not relevant to this discussion, terminate contracts to which the company is a party.

Upon the grant of a final liquidation order in respect of a company, a state of affairs described as the concursus creditorum comes about. What this means is that the relationships between the company and its creditors and amongst the creditors themselves are frozen. In other words the rights and obligations of the various parties are fixed and no one is entitled to change his position for better or for worse.

The Companies Act , as read with the Insolvency Act , regulates the position in relation to certain specified contracts. Construction contracts are not one of these, and the consequences of liquidation for them are governed by the common law.

Are bribes, fines and such like deductible expenditure for income tax purposes?
In terms of the Income Tax Act, no deductions shall be made in respect of any expenditure incurred -

(i) where the payment of that expenditure or the agreement or offer to make that payment constitutes an activity contemplated in Chapter 2 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004); or

(ii) which constitutes a fine charged or penalty imposed as a result of an unlawful activity carried out in the Republic.

This section of the Income Tax Act is quite clear.

RENDER UNTO CEASAR WHAT IS DUE TO CEASAR.

Greg Beykirch | Finance Manager

A limited time only for exemption

In the most recent draft amendments to the fiscal laws, National Treasury have proposed that individuals who own their private dwelling in either a company or a Closed Corporation (CC) will have until 31 December 2012 to transfer the immovable property into their own name in order to obtain Capital Gains Tax (CGT) roll over relief and exemption from transfer duty and Secondary Tax on Companies (STC).

The previous limited window period

In anticipation of the introduction of CGT, a limited window period was granted in 2001 to allow the transfer of a private dwelling from a Trust, company or CC to the individual owner without incurring transfer duty and / or STC. The impetus for this relaxation is that the CGT exclusion for a primary residence is only available where the private dwelling is owned by a natural person.

Our Association's Health and Safety Manager, who also serves on the Minister of Labour's Advisory Council for Occupational Health and Safety (ACOHS) Neels Nortjé, brings us this important news:

At an ACHOS meeting held on 12 August 2009 the amended Construction Regulations were approved and ACOHS agreed that the Construction Regulations should be published for comment. This means that the regulations will go to state legal and then be published for comments.
 
To read more about the new changes to The Construction Regulations or to post your comments and/or questions, visit the Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal Occupational Health and Safety Forum.

Just a reminder that we will be undertaking certain construction work at our Head Office in Westville.

This includes:

The Construction of a Parking Deck

The installation of an electrical system including solar panels, batteries , inverters, wind turbines and the necessary reticulation and infrastructure

The refurbishment of the ground floor including construction work and the removal and replacement of various internal elements.

It is expected that the contract will require a cidb grading of 4 GBPE or 5 GB.

A formal call for Expressions of Interest will be issued shortly, but if you think you may be interested in tendering please contact Brandon. If you have already advised us, you need not do so again.

You can also get updates and request more information by posting in this thread in the ONLINE FORUM.