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 Account settings.

This only applies if you OWN the home you're claiming from (not renting). If you rent, skip this — there's no CGT effect for you.

The trade-off in plain English: Normally, when you sell your primary residence, the first R3,000,000 of profit (capital gain) is completely exempt from Capital Gains Tax — SARS calls this the "primary residence exclusion" ceiling. Think of it as a cap on how much profit can ever be tax-free, no matter how much you actually profit by. But SARS treats a home with a business-use portion as partly a business asset. The percentage of your home you've been claiming as home office (say 10%) loses its share of that exclusion when you eventually sell — that 10% of your profit becomes taxable as a capital gain, in the tax year you sell, potentially years after you stopped claiming.

Worked example (note: this uses a different, smaller number — R2,000,000 — just as a realistic example of an actual profit; it is not the R3m ceiling itself): Say your home office is 10% of your house, and you sell the house 8 years later for a R2,000,000 profit. Since R2m is under the R3m ceiling, normally all of it would be tax-free. But because 10% of the home was used for business, R200,000 of that gain is carved out as a business asset disposal and does not get the primary-residence exclusion — only the remaining R1,800,000 does. That R200,000 (less your separate annual R50,000 CGT exclusion) gets added to your taxable income in the year of sale, taxed at your marginal rate — potentially costing you tens of thousands of rand, long after the home office deduction itself was used up.

Also note: bond/mortgage interest is generally not deductible as part of a PAYE employee's home office claim (only rent, rates, electricity, cleaning etc. are) — so the interest gives you no offsetting tax benefit, but the CGT "tainting" still applies to the space either way.

Is it still worth claiming? Usually yes — the annual home office deduction is real money back every year, while the CGT hit is a smaller, one-off cost only realised if/when you sell. But it is a genuine future cost, not a free deduction, and it's worth discussing the numbers with your tax practitioner — especially if you're planning to sell within the next few years, or if your home office percentage is large. EasyT tracks your home office % in Account so you have the exact figure ready when that day comes.

Tax rates at a glance:

• Sole Proprietor / Natural Person (PAYE): Progressive 18–45% after rebates, on your total income.
• Close Corporation (CC): No new CCs can be registered since 2011, but existing ones still operate — taxed like a Pty Ltd at 27% flat.
• Pty Ltd: 27% flat corporate tax on profits, plus 20% Dividends Tax when profit is paid out to you.
• Small Business Corporation (SBC, turnover ≤R20M): A Pty Ltd or CC that qualifies for SBC status is taxed on a sliding scale — 0% on the first R99,000, then 7%, 21%, 27% — a real saving over the flat 27% rate.

Why the structure changes what you can claim, not just the rate:

• Sole Proprietor: Every genuine business expense reduces your personal taxable income directly. A trading loss can offset your other income (e.g. a salary) in the same year. Simplest record-keeping, no separate financial statements or CIPC filings required.
• CC / Pty Ltd: Expenses reduce the company's profit, not your personal income — you only benefit once profit reaches you as salary or dividends. A company loss cannot offset your personal income; it carries forward inside the company instead. You need annual financial statements and a separate company tax return (ITR14).
• SBC: Same claim rules as a Pty Ltd/CC, but with two extra advantages: the sliding tax scale above, and a full write-off of asset purchases (equipment, tools, machinery) in year 1 under Section 12E, instead of spreading it over 3–6 years like everyone else.

Rule of thumb: Under roughly R500,000/year profit, a sole proprietor is usually simpler and just as tax-efficient. Above that, registering as a Pty Ltd and qualifying as an SBC often reduces total tax meaningfully — but the CIPC registration, financial statements and separate return add real admin cost. Always get a registered tax practitioner to run the actual numbers for your situation before changing structure — see also the next question for a fuller sole-proprietor-vs-Pty-Ltd comparison.

The two amounts are separate — don't confuse them:

1. What comes off your salary — your medical aid premium (say R3,500/month) is deducted from your gross salary by your employer before you receive it. That deduction by itself is not a tax saving — it's just how you pay for medical aid.

2. The actual tax saving comes from the Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credit (MTC) — a fixed rebate that reduces the PAYE tax your employer withholds, every single month, automatically. For 2026/27 it's R376/month for you (the main member), R376/month for your first dependant, and R254/month for each additional dependant. A family of 4 (you + spouse + 2 kids) gets R376 + R376 + R254 + R254 = R1,260/month = R15,120/year less PAYE — this should already be visible reducing the tax on your payslip each month, you don't need to claim it separately at year-end.

Why it's a "credit" and not a "deduction": A deduction (like your home office claim) reduces the income you get taxed on — its rand value depends on your tax bracket. A credit reduces the tax bill itself, rand-for-rand, no matter what bracket you're in. This is why the MTC is a fixed number rather than a percentage.

Does your home office claim affect your medical credit? No — they are completely independent. Your home office reduces your taxable income (a deduction, applied before tax is calculated); your medical credit reduces the tax owed on whatever's left (a credit, applied after). Both appear on the same ITR12 assessment and both reduce what you ultimately owe SARS, just through different mechanisms — you get the benefit of both, not one or the other.

One more credit you might be missing: if you also pay real out-of-pocket medical costs not covered by your aid (specs, dental, physio, etc.), you may additionally qualify for the Additional Medical Expenses Tax Credit — but unlike the MTC, this one is only calculated on year-end assessment, not through your monthly payslip. Keep those receipts and let your tax practitioner check if you qualify.

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 a manufacturing process — it does not cover motor vehicles, computers, or general office equipment.
• Section 12E: Full write-off in year 1 for Small Business Corporations (turnover ≤R20M). Applies to plant, machinery, tools and equipment — a big advantage over standard wear and tear.
• Section 11D: Research and development expenditure — 150% deduction on qualifying R&D spend.

So which section covers changing a vehicle's write-off period? Neither 12C nor 12D. Motor vehicles are depreciated under the general wear and tear allowance, Section 11(e) — the same section that covers computers, furniture and equipment. SARS publishes standard write-off periods for different asset classes in Binding General Ruling 7 (BGR7); for a passenger vehicle the standard period is 5 years (20%/year).

You can use a shorter period than the BGR7 standard — for example writing a vehicle off over 1 year instead of 5 — but only if you can genuinely justify a shorter useful life for that specific vehicle (e.g. unusually high business mileage, a vehicle used in severe conditions, or evidence it will be disposed of/replaced within the year). This still falls under Section 11(e), not Section 12C — you're simply motivating a different useful-life estimate within the same section, not switching to a different allowance. SARS can query this on audit, so keep clear written justification and expect your tax practitioner to sign off on the reasoning before you file. (Note: there is no "Section 12D" for vehicles in South African tax law — 12D relates to petroleum pipeline infrastructure and doesn't apply here.)

These allowances are complex — your tax practitioner should confirm which section and which write-off period genuinely applies to your specific 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.

This is the most valuable and most under-claimed part of the tax return, and it works very differently from ordinary medical expenses.

Two separate things happen. Everyone with a medical scheme gets the Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credit — a fixed monthly amount per member that comes straight off your tax. Separately, the Additional Medical Expenses Tax Credit covers what you paid out of your own pocket. Where a disability has been formally certified, that second credit becomes dramatically more generous:

• Without a certified disability: you only get 25% of what is left after subtracting 7.5% of your taxable income. On a R500,000 income that means the first R37,500 of medical spending earns you nothing.
• With a certified disability: you get 33.3%, and there is no 7.5% threshold at all — every rand counts from the first one.

You also unlock a published list of costs that are only claimable once a disability is certified — things an ordinary taxpayer can never claim. These include the difference between a special-needs school’s fees and an ordinary school’s, tutoring related to the disability, therapy, assistive devices, and travel beyond a 10 km radius for treatment.

EasyT applies all of this for you once the certificate is recorded — including working out the school-fee difference — and shows exactly which figure went where on the return.

Yes — nothing above applies without it. The ITR-DD is SARS’s Confirmation of Diagnosis of Disability form, and it is the only thing that turns a medical condition into a claimable disability for tax.

How it works: you fill in Part A. A registered HPCSA practitioner qualified in that specific field completes the rest. For a mental or behavioural condition that means a DSM-5 diagnosis and a functional assessment; the practitioner is confirming the condition is moderate to severe and lasts more than a year even with treatment.

You do not send it to SARS. You keep it. But you must be able to produce it on request, and SARS does ask — this is a commonly audited claim. Under the Tax Administration Act you keep it for five years after filing.

How long it lasts: if the practitioner marks the disability permanent, the form is valid for 10 years. Otherwise 1 year, and it must be renewed. EasyT tracks that expiry date and warns you before it lapses — claiming on an expired ITR-DD is one of the easiest ways to lose the whole claim.

⚠️ A disability and a physical impairment are not the same thing in tax law, and they are claimed differently. If your practitioner will not certify a disability, an impairment may still be claimable — ask them.

You claim what you actually paid. Nothing more, nothing less.

Where two people share a child’s costs — separated parents, or any shared arrangement — each person claims their own portion. If the school fees are R17,000 a month and you pay R4,000 of it, R4,000 is your figure. The other R13,000 is not yours to claim, whoever paid it.

SARS is interested in what you paid for, not in the percentage split. So the number that matters is the one on your bank statement. Keep proof of your own payments — that is the evidence that supports your claim, and it is the reason EasyT asks you for the amount you paid rather than a percentage.

One thing EasyT deliberately does not do: guess what the other person claimed. We cannot see anyone else’s tax affairs, and we never will — your data is yours alone. That means the responsibility for not double-claiming the same rand sits with the two of you, and it is worth a short conversation before you both file.

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.

EasyT runs as a web app rather than an App Store download — this means updates reach you instantly with no approval delays, but the "install" step looks a little different. It takes about 30 seconds, and afterwards EasyT opens full-screen with its own icon, just like any other app.

On iPhone (Safari): Open www.easytsa.co.za in Safari → tap the Share icon (square with an arrow) in the bottom toolbar → scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen → tap Add.

On Android (Chrome): Open www.easytsa.co.za in Chrome → tap the ⋮ menu (top-right) → tap Add to Home screen (or Install app) → tap Add/Install.

On a computer: Just bookmark the site — your data syncs automatically between phone and computer once you're signed in with the same login.

What it should look like once installed: tapping the EasyT icon opens it full-screen, with no browser address bar and no tabs — just the app, with Home/Ledger/Scan/Travel/Account across the bottom.

If it opens in a normal browser tab instead (address bar still visible, bottom menu missing): your browser is very likely set to "Desktop site" mode, which stops the phone layout from loading. Open the ⋮ or ··· browser menu and make sure Desktop site is switched off, then remove the icon and add it again.

If the icon looks like a plain grey box instead of the EasyT logo: remove it from your home screen and add it again — this refreshes the icon your phone has cached.

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 Account).

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 Account → 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 your Monthly Audit (tap the Audit Readiness strip on the Ledger page) 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 Account tabs to invite your accountant directly.

Go to Account → 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.

On your Income page, tap ➕ Raise an invoice, 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 logo and banking details are set once behind the ⚙ link.

Yes. Once you're signed in, every entry you capture is saved to your private cloud account (via Firebase) in real time — just sign in with the same email and password on any phone, tablet or computer and your full ledger, receipts and settings appear automatically. There's nothing extra to switch on.

You can also sign in with Continue with Google instead of a password — this uses Google's own secure sign-in (the same technology behind "Sign in with Google" on other apps) and links to the same cloud account.

To move data between two tabs on the same device, use Account → Generate Sync Code. To carry your data to a different device without waiting for cloud sync, use Export/Import Backup File — an encrypted file that stays in your hands.

Where: Your records are stored in your own private cloud account, hosted on Google Firebase — the same infrastructure used by large, well-known apps worldwide. There is no shared database — each EasyT account is completely isolated, and only you (signed in with your email and password, or Google account) can read your own data.

Encryption: Data is encrypted in transit (every request between your device and the server uses HTTPS/TLS, the same standard banks use) and Firebase encrypts data at rest on its servers by default. Your password is never stored in readable form.

Receipt scanning: When you scan a receipt, the image is briefly sent to an AI provider to read the text off it, then the extracted data is saved back to your account. You can always enter a receipt manually instead if you'd rather not use AI scanning.

Your responsibility: No system is 100% risk-free, and SARS requires you to keep your own records for 5 years — so it's good practice to periodically use Account → Export a Backup to keep your own copy too, in addition to the cloud copy. Full detail is in the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy below.

If you have a busy month (hundreds of receipts) and need to hand everything to your accountant, you don't need to send every receipt image individually:

• The SARS PDF Report already includes every line item, cost centre, and — for amber/red flagged entries — the supporting notes and a reference to each uploaded document, all in one file.
• If you specifically need every receipt image included, turn on Include Receipt Images before generating the PDF — this can make the file considerably larger (easily 50-100MB+ for hundreds of receipts), so it may be too big to email directly.
• If the file is too large to email: use a free file-transfer service (e.g. WeTransfer) or a shared cloud folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) your accountant can access — upload the PDF there and share the link, rather than attaching it directly. Most email providers cap attachments around 20-25MB.
• Alternatively, export the CSV (a small, lightweight spreadsheet file) for the raw numbers, and only send the full image-included PDF if your accountant specifically asks for the underlying receipts.

Go to 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.

We're committed to EasyT being a long-term service, but we understand that's a genuine question when you're trusting us with a year's worth of tax records. Our commitment, in plain terms: if we ever had to close the Service, you would get at least 60 days' advance notice in-app and by email, and full access to export your data and reports during that entire window — we would not simply switch it off without warning. This is written into our Terms & Conditions (§13) so it's a real commitment, not just a promise.

The best protection is still in your own hands, though: use Account → Export a Backup every so often to keep your own copy of your records, independent of EasyT entirely. That way your 5-year SARS record-keeping duty is covered no matter what.