What South African Freelancers Can Actually Claim from SARS

## Deductions are not a loophole. They're the point. SARS taxes your **profit**, not your turnover. Every legitimate cost of earning your income lowers what you owe — but only if it's genuinely business-related, actually incurred, and you can prove it. The test SARS applies is simple to state and easy to fail: the expense must be incurred **in the production of income** and not be of a **capital or private** nature. Here's what that means in practice for a South African freelancer or sole prop. ## Home office The one everybody asks about, and the one most often claimed wrong. To claim home office expenses you generally need a **specific area of your home used regularly and exclusively for work** — a dedicated room, not the kitchen table between meals. What you claim is the proportion of household costs matching that room's floor area: rent or bond interest, rates, electricity, cleaning, repairs to that space. Calculate the percentage once, keep the floor plan and the calculation, and apply it consistently. Note that claiming home office against a property you own can affect capital gains treatment when you sell it — worth a conversation with your accountant before you start. ## Vehicle and travel You can claim business travel, never commuting to a fixed place of work. The only claim that survives an audit is one backed by a **logbook**: date, from, to, kilometres, and the business reason. Opening and closing odometer readings for the tax year are non-negotiable. You then use either actual costs (fuel, insurance, maintenance, licence, finance charges) apportioned to business kilometres, or the SARS deemed cost tables. No logbook means no claim, however real the driving was. ## Tools of the trade - **Laptops, phones, cameras, monitors** — capital items, claimed as wear-and-tear over their write-off period rather than all at once. Small items under the SARS threshold can typically be written off in full in the year of purchase. - **Software and subscriptions** — deductible in the year you pay them, apportioned if you also use them privately. - **Data and airtime** — deductible on the business portion. Estimate honestly and consistently; a 100% claim on a personal cellphone contract is an invitation to be asked about it. ## Professional and business costs Accounting fees, bank charges on the business account, professional body memberships, business insurance, advertising and website costs, and the commission you pay to get work all count. Training and courses are deductible when they maintain or improve skills you already use to earn income — not when they qualify you for a new career. ## Retirement and medical Retirement annuity contributions are deductible up to the legislated limits and are the single most effective lever most freelancers have. Medical costs come through as tax credits rather than deductions — different mechanism, still money. ## What gets disallowed - Private groceries, clothing (unless protective or a uniform), and family expenses run through the business. - Entertainment with no clear business purpose or record of who and why. - Fines and penalties — never deductible. - Anything without a receipt. SARS expects supporting documents to be kept for **five years**, and the request usually arrives long after the shoebox was cleared out. ## Make it a habit, not a scramble Deductions are lost in February, not claimed in February — by then the receipts are gone and the logbook was never kept. Capture as you go: photograph the receipt at the till, log the trip when you park, categorise the expense the day it happens. [Taxza](/apps/taxza) exists for exactly that: categorised expenses, stored receipts, and plain answers to "can I claim this?" at the moment you're spending the money rather than eleven months later. Pair it with the [small business AI guide](/ai-for-small-business) if admin is eating more of your week than the work is. ## One honest caveat This is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Your registration type, income mix and business structure change the answers. Use it to arrive at your accountant's desk with better questions — and better records.