Written by Nicci
Updated 27 June 2025
You may be employed by someone, but for one reason or another- you don't receive an IRP5 and no amount of begging or pleading
Read more →
Written by Nicci
Updated 14 June 2025
As a Director of a Company, your salary is subject to monthly PAYE and UIF deductions. Many small business owners don’t realise that if they operate their business through a company (Pty), the company needs to be registered as an employer with SARS.
This means, the company needs to deduct employee’s tax (PAYE) from the amounts paid to Directors. It’s also required to make monthly EMP201 submissions (this is the PAYE, UIF and SDL return) to SARS. The same applies even in the case of “owner managed” businesses -where there’s only one director and no employees...
Written by Nicci
Updated 7 June 2025
Our helpdesk receives hundreds of questions from commission earners about how their tax is calculated. Many are also confused about which expenses they can claim. Hopefully our FAQ will help other taxpayers who might be puzzling over the same issues.
1. I have a salary and earn a small commission; can I claim for my travel to and from work every day? (The commission is based on the sales that my team makes telephonically per month).
Should the commiss...
Written by Alicia
Posted 19 May 2025
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 (source code 3926), related tax as well as the tax directive number issued by SARS...
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 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 Nicci
Updated 22 January 2024
1. Keep an accurate record of revenue and expenses
You can draw up these records by way of a simple spreadsheet based on your invoices and then confirm these amounts by cross-checking them against your bank statement.
Read more →
Written by Alicia
Updated 22 November 2023
Written by Nicci
Posted 12 January 2022
Perhaps you just tried to submit your tax return and you instantly got an error relating to 3696 and 3699. As frustrating as it could be, don’t worry the error can be fixed. Maybe, you might have just simply left an amount out. Let’s have a look at what you should do, in order to crack these codes correctly – in that way making filing much more easier for you.
You’ll need to check your IRP5 to make sure you answered TaxTim's questions for these amounts correctly. Your IRP5 can show one or more amounts with source codes describing the income you received from your employer that year. ...
Written by Marc
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?
Read more →
Written by Nicci
Posted 10 April 2020
Written by Nicci
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...