Food for Thought on Subsistence Allowances

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 thi

5 Reasons you Still Need to File your Tax Return

SARS 2025 tax season dates: 21 July 2025 to 20 October 2025: individual (non-provisional) taxpayers 21 July 2025 to 19 January 2026: provisional taxpayers If

Why don't I get a tax deduction for Out of Pocket Medical Expenses?

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 Poc

I work for someone, but did not receive an IRP5 - what should I do?

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(endpreview) will result in on

Tax Season 2025: opening date and deadlines

Why You May Owe Tax on Two-Pot Withdrawals

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 r

Finding your way around a SARS IRP5

Consult the image below to find all the tax-related information on your IRP5 that you will need when completing your annual tax return. PAYE number Income s

What Medical Expenses Can You Claim Back from Tax

Medical expenses are nothing to sneeze at. Private medical treatment is increasingly pushing the limits of medical aid scheme(endpreview) benefits and our walle

Tax on Pension Annuites

When you retire, you’ll have a few options for how to access your retirement savings. You can take up to one-third of the total amount as a cash lump sum

Tax effects of your salary structure

We often receive questions from taxpayers as to how to structure their salary most efficiently for tax purposes. Unfortunately, the reality is that the da

Swear an affidavit for SARS

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

The 3 R's: Returns, Rebates and Refunds Explained

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 u

Navigating your way around your IRP5

Click on the format of IRP5 that matches your own and we will show you where to find the tax information you need to file your tax return.

Top Questions on Income that is not taxed

Exempt or non-taxable income refers to certain types of income, which is not subject to income tax. (endpreview) There is a section in the tax return called &ls

Do You Need to Ring-Fence Your Business or Rental Losses for Tax?

When pursuing a business activity, trade or renting out a property, you’re no doubt doing so to make some money, but the reality for self-starters(endpr

Top Tips for Sole Props

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 a

What to do if your tax return was rejected by SARS

If you've received a letter from SARS saying that your tax return has been rejected and you're not sure why, there could be a few reasons why this has happened.

Why does SARS require manual intervention to finalise my return?

When a Tax Return is filed usually SARS issues an immediate assessment (ITA34), however sometimes they do need to do a further manual check on their side.

Don't file on SARS eFiling before 7 July

Last year, we noticed that many taxpayers filed their tax returns before the tax season officially began (i.e July). However, doing so caused delays and problem

How to calculate totals under source codes 3696 and 3699

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

Calculate interest on late provisional tax payment

SARS charges interest on late payments made toward provisional tax deadlines. To calculate this late payment penalty, use the formula below:Provisional tax amou

10 Tips to Pay Less Tax

These tips are part of TaxTim's personalised recommendation tool called the Tax Health Score. Once you file your tax return with TaxTim,(endpreview) we analyze

IRP5 FAQs

What is an IRP5? An IRP5 is the employee's tax certificate that is issued to him/her at the end of each tax year detailing all employer/employee related incomes,

Tax on Bonus Payments: How Does it Work?

For those fortunate enough to receive bonus payments as part of your remuneration, you’ll understand the(endpreview) frustration of seeing one amount on y

News Alert: Tax Season 2020

On Tuesday evening, the SARS commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, held a media briefing to talk about the challenges that SARS is facing due to Covid-19.(endpreview