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Tax Threshold Posts in Tax Q&A

How much must you earn to qualify for a tax refund?



How much must you earn to qualify for a tax return?

What the amount I am allowed to earn per year with my pension? I am over 70.



I am 73 years old and cannot live on my pension so I have gone back to work. How much am I allowed to earn to be exempted? Is there no exceptions for the people over 70?

Parents over 80yrs old, income of 350K/yr from rentals, do they need to pay tax?



My parents are over 80. The only income they enjoy is from 5 rented cottages on the property where they collect on average ZAR 6000/month. This equates to a total income of around ZAR 350K/yr. They claim they do not need to pay tax on this nor need to complete a tax return!? Is this true?!

They are cashed up, do not have or service any debt. The only significant asset they own is the single property on which they both live and rent the cottages out.

Penalized for not paying tax (low income)?



Will one get penalized for not paying a personal income tax, even if you submitted your form? If so what would it be? This is for a low income wages.

Will I get a letter in the post with a tax reference number to replace my temporary one?



Ok when I went and got my tax reference number, the lady that helped me said it's a temporary number and that I will receive another one in the post. It's been 2 months gone by and I didn't get anything as yet. I just want a tax reference number. I got a temporary one only. Is this the one I need always or do I have to wait longer for another one? I don't want to pay tax.

Incomplete tax return from 2007 with no IRP5 information available.



I recently applied for my tax return for 2013. I have been waiting a while for the return until I called SARS and they told me that I have an incomplete return from 2007. The problem is: I don't possess any IRP5 information from that year, and the only job I had was a shift job in which I made a minimum wage for only three months. What do I need to do?

Registration of employees for tax or PAYE?



Hi Tax Tim
Do I need to register my employees for PAYE or for tax as they received only R3300 per month? How do I go about registering them for tax? What documentation do I need and do I need to go to the branch to fill it in?

Do students doing training pay tax?



Hey TaxTim, I am a student doing my in-service training. Do I need to pay tax if I am earning R5000 per month?? I started in July 2013, I am on a contract.

How to fill in your Tax return with two sources of income, but no IRP 5?



I do work for a research group but am not formerly employed by the research group at the university. I am listed as a vendor and get paid for things I do for the group. Effectively as a supplier of things I make.

So how do I fill in my tax form since I am in the tax threshold. I do not get a IRP 5 since I am not employed by them. I also received a pay out of a fund that I had from my previous work and it shows up in my form as an employer.

Now I would like to know how do I go about to fill in my form as I am receiving income but do not know what code or where to put it in the form. ...

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Do temporary teachers pay tax?



I am a temporary teacher and pay tax.

Does -10c balance mean I'm not owed? I know I have been paying tax.



Hi Tim! I submitted my tax return for 2012 and 2013 last week Friday. I wanted to claim in case I was owed. Afterwards I got an email and an SMS saying -10cents due. What does it mean?

I've not filed a tax return in years, what should I do?



I've not filed a tax return for the last few years, though my company has been taking tax off my paycheck. What should I be worried about? What should I do?

Provisional tax Period 1 query



Hi. I am a provisional tax payer for the first time due to earning rental income greater than the threshold. I received (& was taxed on) a bonus from my employer in June this year. How do I treat the bonus payment on the provisional tax return (period 1)?
If I include it as part of taxable income, my tax payable is inflated as bonuses are taxed differently from normal income. Please advise.

Can taxes be deducted if you have never earned more that R40 000p/a?



Hi Tim

My husband earns about R44 000p/a. For the past 3 months, money has been taken out of his account by SARS. According to them, it is outstanding taxes from years passed when he neglected to pay his taxes, however this is the most he's ever earned.

Is that at all possible with his salary?

Do I owe SARS or do they owe me for the past twenty years that I worked?



Since I started working I have never made a tax return claim from SARS for the past 20 years. Do I owe SARS or does SARS owe me?

I have never worked in SA and lived abroad since I started my career, must I file for tax in SA?



Dear Tim,

I am South African citizen. After my studies I went abroad and have lived in the same country since I left SA. I am not registered as a tax payer at SARS but I do have a bank account in SA and sometimes I will send money back to SA.

1) Must I file a tax return every year even though I am not registered at SARS and I have not worked in SA?

2) Sometimes I would like to give money to parents (they live in SA), but I know that there is a limit to how much ...

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Tax threshold for business



Myself and two others are going to try sell octane boosters in our spare time for extra money as we are students. What are the rules we have to follow if any?

How to declare foreign salary on ITR12 form



Hello Tim,

I earned a SA salary and lived in SA until September last year, afterwards I went back abroad/overseas to my home country and worked there. I already submitted my SARS ITR12 form and I did not mention my foreign earned salary income because it is already taxed abroad and I also could not find the section to add this amount on the ITR12 form. Now my ITR12 form is under verification and I have to submit all relevant forms. Does SARS need my foreign payment slips and do they need my foreign bank statement with the interests? I declared a few rands which I earned on my foreign bank account which is below the threshold...

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Provisional Tax form completion for declaring Capital Gains



I've cashed out my investment portfolio in May this year, in preparation for emigration, which will be completed in September this year. So I need to fill out a provisional tax declaration for capital gains, which comes to around R75k. I also haven't been in South Africa for the entire year - we moved overseas before the tax year started. So I haven't earned any income in South Africa to declare.

In the provisional tax income form, I fill out the R75k as "Gross/turn over", and have calculated the taxable income as R14k (R75k - R30k excluded amount for capital gains per year x 33.3% inclusion rate)....

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Cell phone depreciation



I took out a 24 month cell phone contract at the end of January 2013 that I pay for on a monthly basis. My phone is used for business and personal purposes. I wish to write off my cell phone as a depreciation deduction (source code 4027). The cell phone handset is valued at around R6 799. Does this mean that I can write off the full amount of R6 799 for the 2013 tax year as it is less than R7000? What can I use as proof for SARS? A letter from the cell phone company confirming the value of the h...

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Do interns that earn R1200 every two weeks have to get taxed 25% every time they get paid?



Do interns that earn less than R3000 a month have to get taxed? And if an intern earns their money every two weeks do they have to get taxed 25% every time they get paid?

Does everyone need to be registered for tax?



Hi.. I would like to know if you are getting paid less than R3500 per month do you have to register for Tax and SARS?

Never submitted a tax return - what kind of tax penalties are there?



Hi Tim,

One of my family members has never submitted a tax return and only actually registered for tax about a year ago. He has been working for about 13 years. That being said, 4 of those 13 years he worked overseas (he worked on the cruise ships were he earned tips only), for 3 years he worked as a waiter where he earned cash and was paid a minimum wage and 5 years as a restaurant manager where tax was deducted from his monthly salary, however, he was never registered for tax by his employer or on an individual capacity. Like I said, he only registered and got a tax number last year (2012). ...

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I'm getting R3000 per month, must I pay tax?



Hi Tim, I'm getting R3000 per month & I can't afford my tax fee everyday, but I must pay tax. I'm worried.

Online Admob income from a foreign source



I am currently not a registered tax payer nor am I employed, I am however getting into smart phone programming and wanted to know my tax obligation when it comes to individuals who do this kind of thing in their spare time and not as a business operation.

Also - Google Admob (for smart phone app monetization) is in the U.S.A and payments are paid out when a limit of $100 have been reached. (This into bank accounts and not PayPal). At what time should I register as a tax payer and what...

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