Use of personal devices for work letter

Updated 27 June 2024

COMPANY LETTERHEAD

Date
Employee's Full Name
Address

 

To Whom It May Concern,

Subject: Permission to use personal items for work purposes

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 use  the following personal items for work purposes:

 

Item: 1...

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Some common (and sometimes forgotten) tax deductions

Updated 27 June 2022

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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Top tips for a successful home office claim

Posted 11 April 2022

Let’s face it, SARS didn’t make it easy for taxpayers to claim their home office expenses this past tax season. We can’t blame them really - being faced with millions of newbie work-from-homers, they had to weed out the legitimate claims from the chancers.

At the start of the season, they made it clear that they would only allow claims for taxpayers who had a separate office at home, set up specifically for their work, which was used by them alone. The office could n...

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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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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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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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Wear and Tear (Depreciation) Top Questions

Posted 21 May 2019

This week we zoom into Wear and Tear also commonly known as Depreciation. Below we've covered some of the top questions we've received from our Helpdesk. Take a quick read through our Q&As and see how your pressing depreciation questions can potentially be solved. 

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Depreciation FAQs

Posted 17 February 2017

What constitutes wear and tear? What is depreciation? What is the depreciation limit?
Wear and Tear or Depreciation is the decrease in value of an asset. SARS allows you to deduct this decrease each year based on the tables. See here for the latest Depreciation Calculator

Can I claim depreciation for my car as a sole proprietor if I have a log book by using the tax table?
You would be able to depreciate your car over 5 years, but you need to then apportion it for the use of business travel based on the logbook...

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The Smart Way to Save Tax when Renting out a Property

Posted 8 April 2016

Taxpayers who earn rental income from a second property of theirs often don’t know what they need to do when it comes to declaring this income to SARS. Sometimes taxpayers think that they don’t have to declare this extra income, or can hide it from SARS by not entering it on their tax return form - a big mistake!

The truth is that extra income earned from rental is taxable, and SARS needs to know about it. In some cases - if the amount earned (profit) outside of a sala...

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Swear an affidavit for SARS

Posted 7 August 2015

Has SARS asked you for documents that you can't produce, such as an old IRP5 from a prior year that your employer doesn't have, or that simply doesn't exist?

To prove to SARS that you cannot produce the document they want, you will need to produce what is called a sworn affidavit.

This is basically a letter that you must write, that you then take to your nearest police station to get signed and stamped.

Items to include:

1. Your name, ID number and contact details...

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SARS isn't paying my refund, they want my old returns!!!!

Posted 3 August 2015

Taxpayers this year are facing a new gripe with SARS when it comes to receiving those well-earned refunds. The current two scenarios are:

• NO AUDIT: A taxpayer files a tax return, gets their ITA34 and does not need to submit supporting documents; or
• AUDIT: A taxpayer files a return and in their ITA34 is requested to submit supporting documents, after which they receives a Completion Letter stating "no adjustment made".

In both these cases a refund should be paid out a few days later (if the taxpayer is due one), however thousands of taxpayers still have not been paid their refund. Here’s why!...

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How to manage your tax affairs running a business in your own name as a sole-proprietor

Posted 1 October 2012

South Africa is brimming with entrepreneurs and small business owners who keep the economy running. These people may or may not be earning a regular salary too, but all of them operate a non-registered business in their own name - a so-called sole-proprietorship. In this blog post we will discuss how such a business pays tax, how it is taxed, and how to separate personal and business affairs to make tax deductions correctly.

To register or not to register as a company? ...

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What to do if your second ITA34 assessment says you now owe SARS money

Posted 6 September 2012

If you have ever survived a SARS audit, you may have been issued with a "revised assessment" or second ITA34 that doesn't make much sense. It probably says that you now owe SARS some money, despite being due a refund. Don't be alarmed though, if you read lower down the new ITA34 you will find that in fact you are still due a refund, only it is probably smaller than before.

For example:

First IT34A (before audit):
SARS says: "Your assessment has been concluded and reflects an amount refundable to you of R-16 636.10"...

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SARS is asking for more documents. Are they auditing me?

Posted 13 August 2012

For most people upon submission of their year-end income tax return, either nothing much will happen or a refund will be due, this being paid back within a matter of days. However in a small number of cases SARS requires extra documentation or proof to be submitted so that they can verify that everything you submitted in your tax return is correct. Don’t be afraid, although many people consider this an “audit” it isn’t nearly as frightening as that and doesn't mean you have done anything wrong. A true audit would be SARS requesting years of past documentation and opening up for examination all your tax affairs from previous years. ...

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