Deductions: 10 most popular posts
Tax on Bonus Payments: How Does it Work?
Posted 18 January 2021
For those fortunate enough to receive bonus payments as part of your remuneration, you’ll understand the
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How is Commission Taxed? 3 Ways Your Company Taxes Commission
Posted 23 June 2020
Our helpdesk receives hundreds of questions related to tax where commission is involved. A misconception that comes up time
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FAQs: 'Other Deductions' that you may be able to claim in your tax return
Posted 13 May 2020
There is a section in the tax return called ‘Other Deductions’ which often causes confusion for taxpayers
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What Medical Expenses Can You Claim Back from Tax
Posted 13 May 2020
Medical expenses are nothing to sneeze at. Private medical treatment is increasingly pushing the limits of medical aid scheme
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Do I earn enough to have to pay tax?
Posted 23 April 2020
Why must I pay tax, I don’t earn enough! Will I get a penalty if I don’t disclose all my income to SARS?
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10 Tips to Pay Less Tax
Posted 22 April 2020
These tips are part of TaxTim's personalised recommendation tool called the Tax Health Score. Once you file your tax return with TaxTim,
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Tax Breaks For All
Posted 21 April 2020
What?
1.Rebates
Who?
Everybody
Primary, secondary, and tertiary rebates – depending on your age.
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The Tax Refund Myth: Why aren't I getting anything back?
Posted 20 April 2020
Every year there arises a misconception amongst taxpayers that a tax refund or 'tax rebate', as it is incorrectly known to many,
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Who's (Legally) Allowed to File Your Tax Return?
Posted 12 April 2020

Tax isn’t the easiest of subjects to navigate. Besides the long list of legalese to master, there’s the fact that tax legislation
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How does Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) work?
Posted 10 April 2020
You may have seen the word PAYE on your IRP5 payslip or heard it mentioned by your employer, but have no idea of its meaning.
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Why is SARS asking me for outstanding tax returns?
Posted 9 April 2020
When did this happen?
Previously, assuming that SARS did not request any documents for verification and everything for the year was accepted
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10 Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund
Posted 8 April 2020
It’s tax season, and one of the most compelling reasons to file a tax return (besides the fact that it’s the law, of course) is the chance that you’ve
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5 Reasons you Still Need to File your Tax Return
Posted 4 April 2020
SARS announced that if you earn less than R500 000 in a year, and fulfill a series of complicated criteria, you may not have to file a tax return 2019.
Previously, SARS had communicated that if you earn less than R350 000 in a year you may not have to file a tax return.
However, we advise you to take GREAT CARE here, and understand your duties properly, because if you don't, you may suffer for it later on.
Here are the top 5 reasons why not to skip filing your tax return this season:
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The Deduction of Home Office Expenditure
Posted 18 March 2020
Nowadays, work culture has evolved massively. “Flexible employment” has become the new buzzword. This is especially relevant at the moment, where many employees are working from home due to the global Corona virus outbreak.
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Food for Thought on Subsistence Allowances
Posted 17 March 2020
You’ve been up since 4am in order to catch yet another red-eye flight for a 9am business meeting - 1,400km away - and you’re already onto your third coffee by the time you board the plane.
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How to Change/Verify Your Bank Details at SARS
Posted 15 March 2020
SARS has recently issued a new guide with regards to updating your banking details with them. This was done in order to reduce the risk of refunds being paid into the wrong accounts and also to streamline the process, which has tended to be an onerous one in the past.
Change of bank details can be done:
- in person at a SARS branch (SARS still prefers this way)
- via eFiling (Go to Maintain Taxpayer Registered Particulars Menu) Note, you will still need t...
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Sole Proprietor or Company: What's Best for Tax?
Posted 9 March 2020
Getting a new business venture off the ground is an equally exciting and stressful time. You’re enthusiastic about getting your new product or service out into the market, but you face quite an administrative process to get it off the ground legally.
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Why don't I get a tax deduction for Out of Pocket Medical Expenses?
Posted 29 February 2020
Tax season always throws up some interesting and confusing calculations, but for many, the most confusing of all is how medical aid contributions and Out of Pocket medical expenses are treated.
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Some common (and sometimes forgotten) tax deductions
Posted 19 July 2019
Too often, taxpayers rush when completing their tax return, and then they miss out on some expenses they are eligible to claim. Don’t overpay tax by overlooking these seven common tax breaks.
Contributions towards a Retirement Annuity
Your contributions towards retirement funds are deductible for tax up to a limit of 27,5% of the greater of your taxable income or remuneration (to a maximum of R350,000 per year). This limit applies to the total contributions you make to any Pension, Provident or Retirement Annuity (RA) fund during the year...
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Home Office Expenses/Deductions
Posted 9 April 2019
Flexible employment is becoming increasingly popular, many taxpayers spend some (or all) of their time working from home. If certain conditions are met, taxpayers are allowed to claim a portion of their office running costs as a tax deduction on their tax return. However, please note that SARS usually flags these returns for audit. If you do work from a home, take a read of our home office blog and also check out our handy decision tree to make 100% sure you are claiming this expense correctly.
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Medical Aid Tax! How SARS' new changes affect YOU!
Posted 8 July 2018
In 2012 SARS began making changes to how medical expenses were treated for tax purposes. The system at that time created a higher benefit for deducted medical expenses if you earned a high income (bad news for low income earners) and the changes since then have sought to make medical deductions more equal across various income levels.
Basic summary of how SARS calculates your tax
Income Earned
Less: Expenses / Deductions
= Taxable Income
x SARS tax rate ...
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Home Office Letter
Posted 4 June 2018
COMPANY LETTERHEAD
Date
Employee's Full Name
Address
To Whom It May Concern,
Subject: Permission to work from home
This letter serves to confirm that _______________________________ (Name of employee), _____________________ (ID number) who is employed by our firm ___________________ (Company name) in the capacity of __________________________ (Position) has permission to work from home in order to fulfil his/her duties to the company. ...
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The 3 R's: Returns, Rebates and Refunds Explained
Posted 20 March 2018
When it comes to tax jargon, most people prefer to bury their heads in the sand instead of trying to understand all the confusing terms that tax practitioners use. Taxpayers just want to do their tax quickly and easily, and if they’re due - receive some money back from SARS. A lot of confusion surrounds the process, but by understanding three simple terms you can make tax season a little bit easier.
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Budget Speech: VAT rises by 1%, predictions were correct!
Posted 21 February 2018
Taxpayers should breathe a sigh of relief as a much lower than expected R36bn in increased taxes was announced by the once-off Minister of Finance. The biggest news amongst the increases was the VAT rise of 1%. For the first time in 25 years, all South Africans will see most goods and services become a little bit more expensive thanks to the Value Added Tax rise. Although controversial, a VAT rise was much needed and will bring in almost R23...
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2017/2018 Budget - The rich are going to pay more, but what does that mean for the rest of us?
Posted 22 February 2017
Personal Tax Rates (rates below)
Individuals across the country, those qualifying above the new tax threshold of R75 750 (previously R75 000) will be paying increased taxes of R16.5bn (previously R5.65bn in actual tax increase) for the next tax year, most of this will be for high income earners, however. Taxpayers generally across the board will be earning the tiniest bit more money each year as their tax brackets...
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