Frequently Asked Questions

Am I Exempt of BEE? What Does This Mean?

According to paragraph 4 of the DTI's gazetted codes of good practice for Black Economic Empowerment businesses with turnover of less than R5 million qualify as exempted micro enterprises and are thus 100% BEE compliant. Companies who have Black shareholding exceeding 50% qualify as 110% BEE compliant.

This means that if any company procures goods or services from you they can recognise 100% or 110% respectively of what they spend on as BEE spend. (even of you have no Black ownership)

However, since the gazetting of the codes of good practice for Black Economic Empowerment in 2007 there have been 2 sector codes that have changed the requirements for some South African businesses, specifically those in the construction and Tourism sectors.

  • In the construction sector, the exemption threshold has been reduced to R1.5 for Built Environment Professionals (BEP's). This includes architects, consulting engineers and quantity surveyors. There has been no change to the threshold for contractors.
  • For all businesses in the tourism sector the exemption threshold has been reduced to R2.5 million.

What must I do to Prove that I am Exempt?

According to paragraph 4 of the DTI's gazetted codes of good practice for Black Economic Empowerment exempt businesses must provide ample supporting documentation to prove their exemption. There are two ways this can be done:

  1. By providing a BEE exemption certificate from a verification agent, or
  2. By providing a BEE exemption certificate from an accounting officer or auditor.

How does an exempt.co.za Certificate Work?

An exempt.co.za certificate is a BEE certificate that represents: a letter from your accounting officer or auditor; an affidavit signed by you; the ID documents of the shareholders/members and your CIPRO information at the time of issue. All of this information is linked to your unique certificate number and the required information is available for search by your clients. This information provides ample supporting information to prove your exemption.

Are exempt.co.za Certificates Valid?

Yes, because the certificate is linked to all this supporting documentation it must be accepted by your clients

Is exempt.co.za SANAS Accredited?

exempt.co.za is not a verification agent, but rather a service that helps our clients to provide supporting documentation that proves their exemption. As such it doesn't need to be SANAS accredited or an ABVA member as the validity of the certificates stems from the validity of the accounting officer or auditor letter.

Can I Change the Accounting Officer/Auditor Letter I Download from the Site?

The letter template that is available for download from the site is based on a letter that was gazetted by the DTI in the Verification Guidelines. It is therefore formatted in such a way as has been legally documented, and the format must be kept to as far as possible.

Why can only CC's and PTY's get an exempt.co.za Certificate?

By law CC's and PTY's have their accounting officers and auditors respectively listed on CIPRO. Part of the exempt.co.za process is checking CIPRO to ensure that the accounting officer/auditor letter is from the accounting officer/auditor listed on CIPRO. Partnerships and Sole-Traders do not have accounting offices or auditor listed on CIPRO and thus we can not complete our verification process correctly.

click here to register for your exempt certificate.

If you have any questions that are not listed above please email them to support@exempt.co.za and we will answer them and if required post a response to the FAQ section.