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Declaring Subsistence Allowance



My IRP5 does not have a code for the subsistence allowance I got when travelling oversees.I did not use all of the allowance I was given while on the trip and was told I could keep it.How do I declare this in my income tax return?

TaxTim TaxTim says:
20 November 2014 at 7:33

How much were you given and was it per day or just a general amount? Did you provide receipts of expenses to your employer?

Shannon says:
20 November 2014 at 7:50

Hi, I do not remember the original total but I had the equivalent of about R6000 in euros left over.

it was just a general amount given to me to pay for food, taxi / train expenses, clothing, etc. Antthing I might need.

I did not as far as I remember give any receipts to the company as I did not want to claim anything from them. The money they gave me was meant to cover any costs.

Regards,
Shannon.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
20 November 2014 at 8:13

Which country did you travel to?

TaxTim TaxTim says:
20 November 2014 at 8:13

And for how many days?

Shannon says:
20 November 2014 at 12:55

I went to Austria and Amsterdam on a business trip. Spending about a week
in total. So about two full days at each of them and plane trips in
between. From what I can remember anyway.

Why is that important?

A colleague of mine thinks this is possibly just counted as expenses. Is that
right?

TaxTim TaxTim says:
20 November 2014 at 16:39

SARS allows a daily rate per country for subsistence allowance to be tax free, anything over that needs to be taxed in your hands. We will provide the rate shortly.

Shannon says:
20 November 2014 at 17:21

I had a feeling it might be something like that. So if it is tax free do I not need to declare it at all?
I'll have to double check the days in each country to be sure. Does it only count if it's a full day? For instance some days were travelling days spent partly on planes and then arriving at destination.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
21 November 2014 at 10:57

As long as you are away more than 24hrs in total it counts. IF tax free then you can leave it out.

Shannon says:
21 November 2014 at 12:21

Great. Thanks so much for all your help.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
21 November 2014 at 13:44

Only a pleasure!

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