Declaring the cost of building a rental property

Posted 27 March 2020

I had rental income in the 2019 tax year, I converted part of my house into a 1 bedroom apartment as well as converting my old garage into another, so I currently have 2 flats now on the property. The apartments represent around 34% of the squares of the buildings on the property. Should I then declare 30% of the costs of the property (I.e.: Interest, Rates & Taxes etc as the costs) as the costs?

Also, where do I declare the cost I had incurred in building the units? (Does it come und...

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Structuring tax for a side businesses

Posted 13 November 2019

I need some advice regarding how to structure my taxes and what ways I will be able to reduce my tax exposure through deductions, registering as a private Pty vs Sole proprietorship etc... I have a salaried job and am starting up a side business working from home as a web developer. I am also considering to start renting out our flatlet via Airbnb. The total income I am looking at includes (per month): 1) Salary: R70000 2) Airbnb: R3000 (which is a bit hard to estimate right now till we have built a track record, but this is assuming an average occupancy of 13%) 3) Web development: R5000...

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Tax on money held in offshore account?

Posted 15 October 2019

I have an offshore transactional bank account into which I transferred cash into. To clarify, the currency is in Australian Dollars. Also, I do not earn any income on this account nor do I earn any income from abroad. With that said, the interest rate for this account is set at zero on the deposits made. What I would like to know is, would I in this case need to pay tax on any currency movements while the cash is in the account and if that is the case, how would this work if I make payments from...

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Provisional Tax on Rental Income

Posted 13 June 2019

My wife and I are South African and we are currently based in East Asia. I work here as a teacher and my wife is not employed. We are married in community of property. So, back at home in Durban, we own two properties, one is residential and the other an office space. We receive rental income of about R6000 and R7500 respectively. Both properties are mortgaged and they are part of a sectional title scheme. Should we register as provisional taxpayers and how would we go about doing this?

Earnings of a teacher and tax

Posted 5 June 2019

I would like to find out if I should submit a tax return as a teacher that earns R300 000 per annum. Would this be required of me?

Business travel from home office

Posted 12 March 2019

I work for a multi-national company and I am home based. I would like to find out, when I travel into the office for meetings, can I claim that mileage as business travel? Also, just for interest sake, would it be different if I was a salary earner and I did receive a travel allowance?

Underestimated tax paid (IRP6)

Posted 15 February 2019

I am a provisional taxpayer. I have not yet received my final payslip, but I will be receiving it quite soon. On my IRP6 tax return, I have indicated that the total estimated on the taxable income and actual tax paid is an estimate as of today and not the accurate amount. So, what I would like to find out is, when the final payslips are available and ready for me to use, what will happen if I have underestimated the actual tax paid to date? Will I perhaps still be eligible for any refund?

P2p interest

Posted 19 July 2017

I earned interest on a Peer 2 Peer investment in the UK, at https://www. Ratesetter. Com/. As this is a non-SA entity they do not provide IT3(b) statements. It is also not a bank/ institution but independent loans. As such, I am not clear if or were to add this amount in TaxTim. I did get a statement with the amount received of 110. 25GBP. Do I enter this amount at the point of "Did you earn any interest from a foreign bank / institution? On your IT3(b) you will see an amount under foreign interest. " ?...

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What is accounting fees?

Posted 17 July 2017

What are accounting fees? This house is in a complex where levies are charged, does this count as accounting fees?

Renting Property and Travel Costs

Posted 13 July 2017

I'm renting out property in Cape Town and I stay in Johannesburg. When travelling down to Cape Town for maintenance/inspections purposes, do I claim the actual petrol money spent or the SARS rate of R3.29?

Are amounts of separate IT3b documents added together?

Posted 13 July 2017

I have two IT3b documents from different sources. Should I add them together?

This query relates to question 6480 "Please enter the total interest amount earned here. If you don't have an IT3(b) you can also add up the interest amounts appearing on your bank statement. This should appear next to source code 4201 on your certificate. " in the Interest & Investments (IT3b) section.

Rental expenses, capital or running expenses?

Posted 10 July 2017

Please assist on the below as I cannot find additional
information within the current questions on your blog:

While not a monthly expense - it is mentioned that any expenses incurred in
earning the rental property income can be set against the rental income for
tax purposes. Does the following apply to that reasoning:

1. Installation of Prepaid electricity meter (about R1400)
2. Separating the electricity flows for sectioning off the electricity
for the rental portion of the property to the main house (we only renting...

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Rental income for a room

Posted 8 July 2017

I have earned rental income from renting out a room in our house. How do I calculate the electricity, rates and taxes (and bond interest) deductible against this income? The room does not have a separate electricity meter, and also keeping in mind that we use prepaid electricity.

Debit interest

Posted 8 July 2017

I receive an IT3(b) Certificate from FNB but there's no credit interest earned only debit interest paid.
Does that get included on the tax return?

Rental Income and bank charges

Posted 4 July 2017

Good day Tim,

Are bank costs allowed to be deducted against rental income. Also what is teh limit here - the FICA rate is R59pm fee, but some banks include it in the monthly bank facility fee say R200pm - is the 200 claimable?

Bond repayment tax deductible?

Posted 4 July 2017

Does my monthly bond payment qualify as a expense against my rental property? Currently my rental income is R6500pm and my bond payment, including rates, taxes and levies about R8000pm indicating a loss for tax purposes?

Claim electricity and rates

Posted 3 July 2017

Can I claim electricity in full and the rates too? I don't live there, but there are tenants who d, but I pay the electricity, rates and water.

Provisional Tax on property sold

Posted 3 July 2017

I sold property in March 2017 and it's an income earning property. Do I need to prepare a provisional tax return in August? Will I just include profits on the property?

Immigrating

Posted 21 June 2017

Will you be able to help me with our tax return once my
wife and I permanently immigrate to Australia? We'll be keeping three properties in SA and we'll receive rental income from it.

Severance benefits and estate duty

Posted 25 May 2017

Do severance benefits received from an employer at death, form part of property or deemed property in your estate for Estate Duty purposes?

Unit trust and tax

Posted 24 April 2017

Do I need to declare interest from unit trusts that is under the threshold of R33000 (e. g. Local interest earned was R15000).

Share trading

Posted 19 April 2017

Do you assist with tax returns where share trading is involved?
I trade in CFDs and equity via my broker for the past 5 years, however,
I've not been making any profit, so I've not been declaring any loss as well.
I don't have any other sources of income except a little interest.

Which costs are deductible prior to receiving rental income?

Posted 17 April 2017

In respect of a second property that one rents out, starting off, can one deduct the following for personal income tax:
(1) Bond transfer fees and registration costs;
(2) Costs incurred on repairs to the property in the month prior to receiving the 1st rental for the property?

Capital Gains Tax: Two

Posted 5 April 2017

I bought a house in December 2013. In November 2015, I bought a second house and it was registered in my name, February 2017. The intention was to let out the first house, and we moved March 2016, with the first house now being empty. However, in the meanwhile, I decided to sell the first house. I haven't had any tenants staying in the first house, it has been empty for a month now. We stayed in the first house since I bought it, for over two years. Will I be liable for capital gains tax, or wil...

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Tax clearance certificate for a non-resident

Posted 5 April 2017

A non South African citizen brought money into South Africa, bought a house and sold it recently. She needs a tax clearance certificate. How does she get it as she has no tax number?
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