The Business Register forms the pillar of the business sampling frame which is used to draw samples for most economic statistics produced by Stats SA. The Business Register is derived from the various tax registers of SARS and maintained on a monthly basis based on source data from the VAT register. It covers all businesses -including small, medium, large and complex businesses registered at SARS. Stats SA is of the view that a census of businesses must be conducted to cover all entities that are economically active in South Africa, and not only those that are registered at SARS.