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Tax deduction - Asset write-off for small items



Is it true that the acquisition of "small" items at a cost of less than R 7000 per item may be written off during the year of acquisition? I bought a laptop for R 6999.00 in December 2012. I am an IT contractor.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
3 April 2022 at 19:07

Assets purchased which cost less than R7,000 can be written off in full during the tax year they were paid for. So yes you can deduct your laptop as a full depreciated amount.

Christa says:
4 April 2022 at 16:18

Is the R 7000 per item, or can it be multiple items to the limit of R 7000?

For example: Can I buy 3 items all valued at less than R 7000 and claim all of them in the same year?

Thanks, Tax Tim

TaxTim TaxTim says:
5 April 2022 at 10:48

As long as they are not connected to one another or form part of a set then yes the individual assets can be written off provided each item costs less than R7000. 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 SARS depreciation tables, which you can then use towards replacing those assets if you wish. Please note you need to keep the proof of purchase of each item as supporting documents to SARS. Without the proof of payments SARS will not allow the claims.  Kindly see our Wear and Tear calculator to assist you in your calculations and remember if you are using a personal item for work purposes you need to indicate the usage split ie. 50% business and 50% personal. 

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