You may find someone who registered their company for VAT, then later ceased trading and wants to sell it. The danger there is that you don’t know what skeletons may be in the cupboard and you may not find out until years later.

If, on the other hand, you approach a reputable company that forms and sells shelf companies, you will be told that in order to register for VAT a company must have averaged at least R4 200 turnover during at least two months prior to registration.

So, since a shelf company is one that has never traded, it cannot be VAT registered. If they falsely “proved” that it had traded, you will have no defence if SARS picks this up and comes after you.

So, what can you do?

• Register a new company or buy a shelf company.
• Trade in at least two months totalling at least R8 400.
• Register for VAT.
• Total turn around time a minimum of about 2 months.