Written by Alicia
Posted 23 May 2025
What is a financial instrument according to SARS?
A financial instrument is a contract that represents money or something of value. For one party, it’s an asset (something valuable), and for the other party, it’s a liability (something owed) or equity (ownership).
According to SARS, a financial instrument is defined to include:
“a share, a member’s interest in a company, a debenture, a unit in a unit trust
scheme, a participatory interest in a portfolio of collective investments scheme, a...
Written by Alicia
Posted 19 May 2025
Written by Alicia
Posted 19 May 2025
If I run a small business and buy an asset like a vehicle for R200,000 (paid in full and not financed), can I deduct the full amount from my taxable income in the same year? Or do I only deduct the depreciation amount each year?
Also, do vehicles qualify for the 50/30/20% depreciation rule over three years like other small business assets?
Written by Alicia
Updated 15 May 2025
The enhanced tax incentive recently introduced by the government, known as Section 12BA, aims to promote private investment in electricity generation from renewable energy sources to help alleviate the energy crisis in the country. This incentive is a temporary enhancement of the existing renewable energy tax incentive found in section 12B of the Income Tax Act.
Below are the key points:
Availability and Duration
The incentive is available from 1 ...
Written by Nicci
Posted 14 May 2025
South Africa introduced the Two-Pot Retirement System to help people access part of their retirement savings before retirement age, while keeping the rest for retirement. It's a helpful system – but it comes with tax rules that can surprise some people.
If you withdrew from your Two-Pot in the tax year, you need to include the details of this withdrawal in your annual tax return. The fund should have issued you an IRP5/IT3a tax certificate which reflects the withdrawal amount, related tax as well as the tax directive number issued by SARS...
Written by Alicia
Updated 7 May 2025
The assets and liabilities section in the annual tax return (ITR12) needs to be completed if you:
Each asset should be reported at its original cost — the amount you paid at the time of purchase or investment. According to SARS, these entrie...
Written by Nicci
Posted 30 April 2025
Shares represent ownership in a company. When you buy shares, you become a shareholder — meaning you own a small part of that company. Companies issue shares to raise money, and in return, investors get a chance to benefit from the company’s growth and profits.
There are two main ways to make money from shares:
Written by Nicci
Posted 30 April 2025
A bond is essentially a loan you give to a company, a municipality, or the government. It is a type of investment. When you buy a bond, you are lending money—and in return, they pay you interest as income and promise to pay back the original amount (called the capital) at a fixed date in the future.
Important: an "investment bond" is not to be confused with a "mortgage bond", which you...
Written by Nicci
Updated 24 April 2025
COMPANY LETTERHEAD
Date
Employee's Full Name
Address
To Whom It May Concern,
Subject: Confirmation of foreign employment
This letter serves to confirm that____________________________(Name of employee) _______________________(ID number) is employed by __________________________(company name) in the capacity of__________________________(position).
He/she is contracted to work overseas in _______________ (country) from ______________dd/mm/yy to ________________dd/mm/yy. ...
Written by Nicci
Updated 23 April 2025
1. How many returns should I file each year if I am a provisional taxpayer?
You are required to file 3 returns i.e. 2 provisional tax returns (IRP6s) and one annual return (ITR12). The reason you need to file the annual return, too, is that your provisional returns are based on an estimate of your taxable income, while the annual return reflects your actual taxable income. Any provisional payments you have made for the year will be deducted from your final tax liability, which is calculated when you submit your annual tax return for assessment.
2...
Written by Alicia
Updated 22 April 2025
Provisional tax can be confusing, especially when it comes to the timing of payments. If you miss the first payment, do you need to catch it up, or can you just pay the second one? And what happens if you become a provisional taxpayer halfway through the year - are you still expected to file a first provisional tax return? In this post, we’ll attempt to clear up the confusion around first and second provisional tax payments.
Brief summary
Written by Alicia
Updated 22 April 2025
TaxTim uses the financial information which you entered to work out the payment due on your provisional tax return (also called an IRP6). However, there may be some information we don’t have access to, which won’t be included in the estimate of your provisional tax payment. To see what SARS has on record, you will need to request a Provisio...
Written by Alicia
Updated 22 April 2025
During the final days of the provisional tax season, high traffic volumes may cause delays in submitting provisional tax returns to SARS—even after you've clicked 'submit' on our website.
To avoid late payment penalties, we recommend paying the estimated provisional tax amount shown on our website. Once your provisional tax return (IRP6) appears in eFiling and your SARS provisional Statement o...
Written by Nicci
Updated 16 April 2025
Surely most of us love to travel, but traveling for business purposes is no fun when it comes to completing your tax return.
SARS has some rather onerous requirements, but as long as you know what you need, submitting your documents to SARS should be plain sailing.
Read more →
Written by Nicci
Updated 16 April 2025
Travel expenses and their tax impact are a complex issue for many. It’s no surprise that it’s a common theme on our Helpdesk.
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Written by Nicci
Updated 15 April 2025
Consult the image below to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return.
Written by Vee
Updated 10 April 2025
Medical expenses are nothing to sneeze at. Private medical treatment is increasingly pushing the limits of medical aid scheme
Read more →
Written by Elani
Posted 2 April 2025
Unfortunately, some of the SARS documents cannot be viewed online (i.e. from within your internet browser). You can work around this issue by downloading the SARS document to your computer. You will then be able to view the document when opening it directly on your device.
Steps to follow if the SARS document is blank on your browser:
Written by Nicci
Updated 27 March 2025
As most of us know by now, cryptocurrency is not real but virtual money.
Read more →
Written by Alicia
Posted 27 March 2025
If you're a provisional taxpayer, you can request a statement of your provisional account on eFiling. However, instead of finding it on your Income Tax workpage, you first need to go to the Provisional Tax workpage. This can be tricky if you don't use eFiling often, so we've listed the steps below to help you.
STEP 1: Log into SARS eFiling
Written by Nicci
Updated 14 March 2025
Training and development for employees plays a vital role in the growth and success of your business. But, finding affordable and correct tools might be where the concerns start creeping in. Suddenly you’re left thinking… “They’ll learn on the job. Resources are limited.”
Fortunately, you’d be pleased to know that the learnership allowance is intended to be an incentive for employers to encourage skills development within their workforce, with the hope to create jobs and economic growth....
Written by Nicci
Updated 12 March 2025
Have you recently received a present or a donation from a wealthy family member or a friend? Or, maybe you've just donated money to support a child in need?
Read more →
Written by Vee
Updated 12 March 2025
Have you been the lucky recipient of a gift or donation from a generous family member or friend? Perhaps they struck it lucky on the Lotto and decided to share their winnings with you!
Or maybe you're the giving type and have donated cash, shares or even property to someone you felt deserved a little boost.
Irrespective of whether you're the giver or receiver of a donation or gift, it's good to understand donations from a tax perspective, and how to declare these to SARS.
Ready to find out?
Let's get started.
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Written by Patrick
Updated 12 March 2025
2026 tax year (1 March 2025 - 28 Feb 2026) same as 2025 tax year, no changes.
2025 tax year (1 March 2024 - 28 Feb 2025) same as 2024 tax year, no changes.
Written by Nicci
Updated 13 February 2025
TaxTim has TWO exciting competitions in 2025!
Win R10,000 in cash by filing your tax return with TaxTim
How to enter:
Read more →
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