Tag: travel allowance

In a tightening economy, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is under increasing pressure to collect every cent it can. This effort is critical to shoring up the South African fiscus. While many compliant businesses play by the rules, it is becoming clear that some large corporations are pushing the envelope too far. Some do so unintentionally, but others proceed with eyes wide open.

Paying employees sounds straightforward, but it is not unusual for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make mistakes in managing their payroll. These errors can have serious consequences, ranging from damaging employee morale to fraud losses, and tax penalties for late or incorrect tax payments and submissions.

Not everything you hear about tax is true. There are many myths and misconceptions about payroll tax in South Africa that simply won’t go away. Let’s look at a few of them and what the tax and labour laws actually say. No matter whether your employer calls what it pays you a salary, overtime or commission, it is taxed at the same rate on the payroll according to the standard PAYE tax tables.

During August, many South Africans received auto-assessments for their 2019/20 personal income tax returns from SARS. The admin for the tax year is behind the taxpayers that accepted, or amended and submitted, this assessment and settled any tax still owing to SARS.

You may owe SARS money next year if you receive a travel allowance and aren’t travelling for business because of COVID-19. Most employees have travelled less for business this year than they would in the pre-COVID-19 world.

You, as the taxpayer, are responsible for declaring the correct information to SARS and will face the consequences if you don’t. Ensure that your tax practitioner declares all income by providing all the correct information to him or her.

If filling in a tax return were an easy task, South African Revenue Service (SARS) would not have a page dedicated to How to complete your income tax return. When in doubt, turn to a professional for advice, but in the meantime here are some tips for a smooth tax return submission:

High political drama in the opening weeks of Parliament aside, most South African business and personal taxpayers are expecting tax hikes across the board from the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech on 21 February. Government already faces a yawning budget deficit, aggravated by the need to find billions of rand to fund a new and unbudgeted-for commitment to free tertiary education.

It is common for travellers to buy foreign currency from an Authorised Dealer (AD), such as a bank or authorised dealer in foreign exchange,...