You can claim any expense that meets three tests: it must be incurred in the production of income, it must be actually paid or payable, and it must not be capital in nature (i.e. not the purchase of a long-term asset).

Claimable examples: Office rent or a proportion of your home bond interest (if working from home), telephone and internet, fuel for business travel, client entertainment with full documentation, staff salaries and wages, professional fees (accountant, attorney), insurance, repairs and maintenance, computer equipment (over 3 years via wear and tear), subscriptions and memberships, training and education directly related to your business.

NOT claimable: Personal groceries, clothing (unless a uniform), home mortgage capital repayments, personal travel, parking fines, and any expense that is partly personal without a documented business percentage.

Yes — but you must satisfy all three of these conditions:

1. Your employer requires you to work from home (this must appear in your employment contract or a letter from your employer)
2. You have a dedicated area used exclusively and regularly for work (a corner of the lounge does not qualify)
3. You did not earn commission (commission earners have a different, more generous formula)

What you can claim (proportional share): Rent or bond interest, municipal rates, electricity, water, cleaning, and repairs. The formula is: (Office m² ÷ Total home m²) × Annual qualifying costs.

Claimed on ITR12 under "Other deductions." SARS will require written confirmation from your employer. EasyT tracks your home office percentage in your Profile settings.

Capital assets are not deducted in full in the year of purchase. SARS allows a wear and tear allowance under Section 11(e):

• Computers and laptops: 3 years (33.3% per year)
• Office furniture and fittings: 6 years
• Motor vehicles: 5 years (20% per year)
• Machinery and equipment: 5 years

For mixed personal/business use, only the business percentage is deductible. Small Business Corporations (SBCs) may write off the full cost in year 1 under Section 12E — a significant advantage. Always keep the original purchase invoice as SARS will request it on audit.

Yes — if your phone is used for business purposes. The key is determining what percentage of use is for business vs personal.

If you use your phone predominantly for business (more than 50%), you can claim the full monthly contract cost as a business expense. If usage is mixed, you should claim only the business percentage — for example, if you estimate 70% business use, claim 70% of your monthly bill.

Keep a record of your estimate and how you arrived at it — SARS may ask you to justify this on audit. EasyT captures your mobile contract as a recurring monthly expense and applies your business percentage automatically.

Sole Proprietor: You declare your business income and expenses on your personal ITR12 tax return. All profits are taxed at your personal income tax rate (18–45%). All losses can be offset against your other income. There is no separate legal entity — you and the business are the same person for tax purposes. Simplest, lowest compliance cost.

Private Company (Pty Ltd): A separate legal entity that pays corporate tax at 27% on its profits. You receive a salary from the company (taxed via PAYE at your personal rate) or dividends (taxed at 20% Dividends Tax). The company can also pay expenses directly — but you cannot claim personal expenses through the company. The company needs its own annual financial statements, tax return (ITR14), and must file with CIPC each year.

Which is better? For income under approximately R500,000/year, a sole proprietor structure is usually simpler and equally tax-efficient. Above R500,000–R700,000, a Pty Ltd with a salary/dividend split often reduces total tax. Always discuss with a registered tax practitioner before changing your structure.

Beyond the standard wear and tear allowance, SARS provides several accelerated depreciation allowances for specific types of assets:

• Section 12C: Accelerated allowance for manufacturing plant and machinery — 40% in year 1, 20% in years 2–4. Only for machinery used directly in manufacturing.
• Section 12E: Full write-off in year 1 for Small Business Corporations (turnover ≤R20M). This applies to all plant, machinery, tools and equipment — a massive advantage over standard wear and tear.
• Section 11D: Research and development expenditure — 150% deduction. If your business spends on qualifying R&D, you get to deduct 1.5 times the actual expenditure.

These allowances are complex — your tax practitioner should identify which ones apply to your specific situation and assets.

Yes — but only if the salary is reasonable and the person actually performs legitimate services for your business. SARS scrutinises family member salaries very carefully and will disallow them if:

• The amount is out of proportion to what an arm's-length employee would earn for the same work
• There is no genuine employment relationship (no employment contract, no evidence of work done)
• The arrangement is purely for tax avoidance purposes

If structured correctly, a family salary is a powerful and legitimate tax planning tool. The family member pays tax at their own rate (which may be lower than yours). Ensure you have a proper employment contract, pay via EFT with a payslip, and register as an employer with SARS to withhold PAYE.

If your business earns more than R2.3 million per year you must register for VAT (compulsory registration, from 1 April 2026), or you can voluntarily register once your turnover passes R120,000/year. Once VAT-registered:

Output VAT: You charge 15% VAT on your sales and collect it from customers on behalf of SARS.

Input VAT: On business expenses, you can claim back the 15% VAT you paid — but only if you have a valid tax invoice from a VAT-registered supplier. This is the Input VAT credit.

The difference (output VAT minus input VAT) is what you pay to SARS bi-monthly. If your input VAT exceeds output VAT in a period, SARS owes you a refund.

Common mistake: Claiming Input VAT on purchases from non-VAT-registered suppliers — this is disallowed on audit. Always verify your supplier's VAT registration number on the SARS website.

For sole proprietors: A business loss can be offset against your other income (e.g. salary) in the same tax year, reducing your total tax bill. This is one of the significant advantages of the sole proprietor structure — a bad business year can reduce the tax on your employment income.

For companies (Pty Ltd): A company loss cannot be offset against the director's personal income. The loss is carried forward within the company to offset future profits — known as an "Assessed Loss."

Anti-avoidance (Ring Fencing): SARS has ring-fencing provisions that prevent individuals from repeatedly claiming losses from businesses that show no reasonable expectation of profitability. If your business shows losses for several consecutive years, SARS may ring-fence those losses so they can only be offset against income from that same business, not your salary.

Provisional tax is not a separate tax — it is a system for paying your normal income tax in advance, in two instalments during the year, rather than in one lump sum at year-end.

Who must pay: Any person who earns income other than a salary (i.e. business income, rental income, freelance income, or investment income above R30,000/year). If you receive only a salary with PAYE deducted, you do NOT need to pay provisional tax.

Payment dates 2026/27:
• 1st payment: 31 August 2026 (6 months into the tax year) — based on estimated annual income
• 2nd payment: 28 February 2027 (end of tax year) — revised estimate
• Optional 3rd: September 2027 — top-up payment to avoid interest

SARS charges interest (currently at prime rate + 2%) on underpayments. EasyT shows your estimated provisional tax on the dashboard and reminds you before each deadline.

When you register, EasyT asks for your business details, entity type, and a few tax settings (VAT, provisional tax, home office). Read and agree to the Terms & Conditions when prompted — you can't complete setup without it. Once you're in, the Home tab is your dashboard: Tax Health Score, income/expenses to date, and your estimated monthly tax reserve.

Tap the Scan button (centre of the bottom bar) and photograph or upload a receipt. EasyT's AI reads the store, date, amount and line items, and suggests a SARS cost centre automatically. Check the suggestion, fix anything wrong, and save — it gets smarter about your regular suppliers over time (see Classification Memory in Profile).

Go to Ledger → Income and tap + Add Income. Enter the client/source, amount and date. This feeds directly into your Tax Estimate on the Reports page and the VAT Summary if you're VAT registered.

Go to the Travel tab and tap + Log New Trip. Type the From/To addresses (autocomplete will suggest real places as you type), or enter odometer readings directly. Add your vehicle first under + Add Vehicle — mark it as a car or a heavy/commercial vehicle so EasyT applies the correct claim method automatically. Generate a full SARS-format logbook PDF any time with the SARS Logbook PDF button.

Go to Profile → Office/Home Office. Turn on Work From Home if you use a room at home exclusively for work — enter the room's size vs your whole home, and your rent/rates/utilities. Turn on Dedicated Office instead if you rent a separate business premises. Your deduction appears automatically in Reports.

Every entry in Profile → Monthly Audit gets a risk colour: green is low-scrutiny and needs nothing extra, amber and red are the categories SARS looks at hardest (entertainment, home office, fuel without a logbook). For amber/red entries, fill in the requested details (client name, business purpose, etc.) and upload a supporting document using the button provided — both flow straight into your accountant PDF, ready for a SARS audit if it ever happens.

The Reports tab is your one-stop summary: total income, claimable expenses, estimated annual tax and monthly reserve, your Home Office deduction, a full expense breakdown by category, and — if you're VAT registered — a VAT Summary showing exactly how much VAT you owe SARS or can claim back.

From Reports, tap DIY Filing Guide. It tells you which SARS form to use for your entity type, walks you through eFiling step by step, and lists every amount you've captured next to the exact SARS source code and field it belongs in — including Retirement Annuity, Medical Aid and VAT, which each have their own field outside the normal expense codes.

Tap Generate SARS PDF Report on the Reports page for a full, professional PDF — income, expenses grouped by SARS code, your travel claim, and every amber/red supporting note and document reference. You can also Export CSV for a raw spreadsheet, or use Accountant in your Profile tabs to invite your accountant directly.

Go to Profile → Tax Settings and scroll to Medical Aid & Retirement. Enter how many people your medical aid covers (including yourself) and your annual RA/pension/provident contribution — EasyT works out your Medical Tax Credit and RA deduction automatically and folds them into every tax estimate in the app.

Go to Profile → Invoices, fill in the client, description and amount, and generate a numbered invoice. If you're VAT registered, 15% VAT is added automatically and shown as a separate line.

Your data syncs automatically via the cloud once you're signed in — just log in with the same email and password on any device. For a quick one-off transfer, use Profile → Account → Generate Sync Code on one device and enter the code on the other, or export/import a backup file.

Go to Profile → Account → Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy any time to re-read them, and see the date you agreed. They cover what EasyT is (and isn't), how your data is used, and how the subscription works.