What VAT submission support should cost per period, and what it covers

When a bookkeeper or accountant quotes you for VAT support, the price difference between one firm and another can be stark. A cheap quote and an expensive one may claim to do the same thing — handle your VAT return — but what's bundled, what's extra, and what's left to you tells a completely different story. Understanding what actually drives the cost helps you spot where you're saving money and where you're cutting corners that will cost you later.

The tension here is simple: lower fees often mean narrower scope. A practitioner charging a modest amount may handle only the mechanical filing — taking your figures, calculating the VAT liability, submitting the return to SARS. Everything else — gathering receipts, reconciling invoices, chasing down missing documents, discussing cashflow timing or compliance queries — becomes your job or lands as an extra invoice. Meanwhile, a higher fee often bundles pre-filing support, queries, adjustments, and follow-up. Neither is wrong; they're different services at different price points.

What a baseline fee typically wraps in

Most firms charge per submission period (usually monthly or bi-monthly for standard filers, or quarterly for others). At the tighter end of pricing, you're usually paying for the return preparation and SARS filing itself — the final action. The accountant receives your data, checks it against their standard checklist, and lodges it. If the return is straightforward and your records are clean, this works fine.

As the fee rises, so does the prep work that precedes filing. More support might include reconciling your sales and purchase records, identifying and correcting misclassified transactions, chasing missing invoices before the filing window, or flagging potential issues early so you can address them. Some practitioners also bundle one or two follow-up queries from SARS — others charge separately if SARS comes back with questions. A few include quarterly or annual cashflow reviews; others reserve that for a separate engagement.

The most variable cost driver is your own data quality. If your bookkeeping is clean and records are organised, the practitioner spends less time unpicking errors, so the fee per filing stays lower. If you're handing over a partial or disorganised pile of receipts each month, someone has to spend time sorting, reconstructing timelines, and filling gaps — and that time costs money, either upfront or through surprise extras.

Hidden scope differences that change the real cost

Before comparing quotes, check what each one excludes. Common gaps include:

• Returns amended after filing (SARS sometimes flags an issue weeks later; some practitioners charge extra to lodge the amendment)
• Queries from SARS or requests for supporting documents
• Corrections to prior-period returns
• Advice on VAT timing, deferral elections, or classification disputes
• Time spent chasing your records if deadlines slip
• Software or online platform access
• Year-end VAT reconciliation or annual compliance sign-off

If your business is stable and your records are tight, these rarely surface — and the cheaper option looks right. But if you operate in a sector with frequent SARS scrutiny, borderline transactions, or seasonal cashflow complexity, you'll hit those extra-charge traps. A practitioner who quotes low but then invoices separately for each SARS interaction or amendment ends up more expensive than one who bundled those into a slightly higher fee.

Another quiet cost driver is software. Some firms include access to a dedicated VAT portal or integration with your accounting system; others expect you to use their accountant's tools and charge per submission or per feature. If your accountant has to manually rekey data from a spreadsheet each month instead of pulling it from your live system, that labour gets priced somewhere — often as a higher per-return fee.

When you're reviewing quotes, don't compare the rand amount alone. Ask each firm to list what's in scope, what triggers an extra fee, and how they handle common friction points — missing documents, SARS amendments, prior-year corrections. One quote may look cheaper on paper but silently exclude the support that keeps your VAT compliant and stress-free. The right fit is the one whose scope and cost align with how messy — or clean — your records actually are.

On Strove, you can request quotes from verified VAT and accounting specialists and see exactly what they cover before you decide.