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Independent Contractor Posts in Tax Q&A

Completed Tax Return for year, owe SARS



Was hoping you can assist filed my tax return yesterday and SARS is basically stating that I owe them R10,000 within in a year, I know this is untrue as every month I have been paying tax. I was a contractor for the last 10 months. Please advise if you able to assist as my tax return has already been submitted.

Deductible company expenses



For many years I operated as a sole Proprietor. Early 2014 I registered a PTY Ltd and duly traded as the PTY LTD. As executive director, by choice I did not draw any salary, the idea being that this would help the company cashflow by saving more working capital. I paid for all vehicle expenses ie fuel, maintenance, privately out of my savings, but approximately 90% of the vehicle use and expenses are attributable to the PTY LTD business. Is there any way that these expenses can be recovered from...

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Commission only tax amount



If I am independent, and my only income is from deals that I put together, how much Tax % wise
do I have to pay, is it sliding or fixed?

My pty ltd had a 0 tax return this year while I worked for other companies as freelancer. Declare?



I am filling out my tax return as an individual freelancer in the media industry but I am also the owner and CEO of a private company that had a zero tax return with no income put through the business. Do I still then need to declare that I am a member of a PTY ltd?

Logbook as evidence



What substantiating evidence do I need to provide to verify my odometer reading on my motor vehicle to SARS? I did not have my car at the beginning of the tax year and my car has since been stolen. I also did not record the kms from when I got it to the end of the tax year. Can I make the kms up? Look forward to your feedback.

Claim business usage for private car



Hi I am using my private vehicles for business travel, part of my job is to do site visits, client meeting ect. I did not receive a travel allowance from my company. Please explain how I can claim this back as I do have log sheets for the travel. I am busy having my package restructured to include a car allowance.

Part 2: can I claim depreciation for one vehicle and also claim travel back or is it not allowed?

Tax directive issued but error says "Lump sum declared but directive outstanding"



I was retrenched in 2014 (May)... The company had a tax directive issued and I have a copy of the directive. In my SARS e-Filing profile, when I open up the tax return, the full provident fund lump sum is declared and indo completed - WITH the correct tax directive number in the "directive" section for the lump sum. However, when I save and CALCULATE, it tax returns a message saying:

"9857 - LUMP SUM DECLARED BUT DIRECTIVE OUTSTANDING"

Please help - not sure why this messa...

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Incorrect income code on IRP5. 3601 instead of 3616



Hi TaxTim,

Appreciate the brilliant service!

I'm an Independent Contractor who initially submitted my tax return on Monday, this week. After getting my ITA34 a couple of hours later, I realised that certain expenses had not been included. A day later, I went in to a SARS branch to submit a revised tax return. Upon getting home the same day, I received an e-mail from work that stated that they had incorrectly entered my income on code 3601 instead of 3616. Will SARS allow m...

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Problem with logbook



Hi there. Please can you help? I don't normally claim travel allowance or petrol, so this was a once-off thing. This is now indicated on my IRP5, but I don't have a log book. And I have to submit it to SARS as I have been selected for an audit. Do I have to claim it or can I request a correction and remove it from my tax return? Please help. Thanks

Tax return delay after submitting supporting docs



Hi Tim,

I have been audited by SARS sent all my supporting documents immediately when they ask for it - my logbook plus had to send them a HP of my vehicle. How long will they take to refund my money?

What kind of supporting documents do I need as proof of my own medical expenses?



What kind of supporting documents do I need as proof for medical expenses out of my own pocket? I had hospital expenses where I received a statement indicating the amount paid by the medical aid and the amount I had to pay in. On the statement it shows the payments made by me (I made monthly payments).

Is this sufficient proof of my payments? What proof do I need for my monthly prescription medicine (my medical aid does not cover my medicine). I paid out of my own pocket each time.
...

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Tax on Travel Reimbursement



Hi I travelled less than 8000km per year for business travel with my car and get reimbursed the AA rate by my employer via EFT payment. He doesn't add my travel claim to my gross salary for calculating PAYE. Must I pay tax on the travel claim money I received?

No supporting documentation for Agent Commission for rental property



Hi, I am renting out a property. I've used your easy questions to fill in all the necessary information regarding the income and expenses related to renting out that property, but I am not confident about what supporting documentation I require to keep on hand for the rental property. I have all the levy and rates invoices, rental agreements and legal costs invoices and the bank statements for the bond financing the property. However the agent does not supply me with invoices for her commission....

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3704 Subsistance Allowance



I received a subsistence allowance (3704). In 2014 I travelled locally for 5 months, I spent about 108 days away from home. How much can I claim in terms of subsistence allowance?

Fringe benefit calculation on two employer-provided vehicles



I have 2 cars on "employer provided vehicle":

1) 2013 Suzuki Alto used for approx 6 months. Cash value 89000
2) Cherry 2011 value 59900 also used for approx 6 months.

How would I calculate the fringe benefit amount / or could someone help me with these amounts?

Too small travel allowance - different to actual costs



I have a R 2 500 travel allowance (R 30 000 a year) provided to me. But for 2015 I calculated my true travel costs (travel allowance) and it should have been R 70 000 a year.

Travel allowance on my IRP5 R 30 000
Travel allowance calculated by SARS tables R 70 000

Can I claim the R 70 000 tax deductible or am I limited to R 30 000 tax deductible?

How much income tax will I pay on additional income from freelance consulting?



I am receiving R50,000.00 in this tax year for freelance consulting fees using my personal experience to assist individuals to optimize their asking price for their house. I am not a registered business and I am currently employed and receive an IRP5 every year. This will be the first tax year that I have to declare additional income. It is all done legally through attorneys who does the transfer of the properties. Should the attorneys be issuing me with an IT3 certificate which I will then use ...

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Do I enter the whole wear and tear value in my tax return or only the "official" part?



When calculating the wear and tear on my car I take the original cash purchase price and divide that by 5. Do I then enter that value in my tax return (same as all other deductions) and SARS then automatically calculate the "official" part thereof from the kilometers I entered, or do I do the calculation myself and then enter the "official" part in the tax return?

Claims against Travel Allowance



In what instances could you claim maintenance expenses, toll fees and tires against a travel allowance?
A proper logbook has been kept of all business km, therefore currently doing the calc based on fixed cost per km and multiplying this with the total business km.

Wrong filing of tax provisional instead of individual



Good day. I filled my tax via SARS e filing for 201 and it triggered an audit. I got a refund after providing the docs, then after a few days I decided to call the SARS call centre. The guy on the other side told me that I need to file for 2009 and 2011 and that I made a mistake and I filed for provisional tax. They fined me for R2900 interest, now I owe them according to the efilling at the SARS branch. They were not very helpful either, the lady told me I must jus...

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Independent Contractor - Allowable Expenses



Hi, I'm an independent contractor and my income is indicated under code 3616. I don't get any allowance, and my company pays income tax every month. What I want to know is can I claim, under the allowable expenses, for things such as vehicle depreciation/KMs traveled/vehicle service costs etc?

Almost all my work related travels are from home to the client site and back, which I have kept a log book for.

I am charged by my previous employer to my IRP5 for FY 2006



I have submitted my 2015 tax on the 01 July 2015 on SARS eFiling and I had a refund of R2200.00 and now SARS told me that I have an outsanding tax return for 2006, however I request my tax return on SARS eFiling for FY 2006 its not populated with the figures even if I refresh my IT12. Also when I my IRP5 from my previous employee this the request I have got:

Tax law only requires us to keep IRP5's for 5 years. However, we have them saved electronically going back to 2008 so if we are able to help the contractor, we will of course do so at no charge, but unfortunately, the IRP5's from prior to 2008 have been archived and are stored offsite...

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What constitutes business mileage if I stay temporarily closer to work?



I live in one city and my normal office is in the city. I am currently involved in a project in another city which takes me away there for extended periods. I have a flat in the other city which I stay in while I am working there. What constitutes business mileage? I would think travel from home to the distant site would be business mileage. However probably not the daily commute in from my flat. Is this correct, or would the total distance away from my home be business mileage?

Can I claim for depreciation on my personal vehicle used for business puposes?



Can I claim on my personal vehicle used for business? I receive no allowance, just re-imbursement for petrol claims and services. I have a logbook indicating business vs personal use.

Havent received my payment from SARS yet and its been 5 days already



I recently did my tax with TaxTim but haven't received my return payment from SARS yet? On SARS Efiling it states that "Filed through an Independent Service Vendor"
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