Odometer day is coming up! – South Africa

The Income Tax Act allows taxpayers who use their private vehicles for work purposes to claim a tax deduction from the allowance received. This excludes travel between your home and work place, which is regarded as private travel.

To claim this tax deduction, you need to keep accurate records of your business and private kilometers travelled from the FIRST DAY of the tax year for individuals (1 March) throughout the year up to the LAST DAY (28/29 February).

SARS provides a useful travel logbook to assist taxpayers in recording their travel information accurately. (SARS’ 2014/2015 logbook is not yet available, but check their website at www.sars.gov.za to download as soon as they have provided it). You can calculate your actual travel for work purposes and claim your deduction.

Without a logbook and your odometer readings, you will not be able to claim your travel allowance deduction, so diarize these dates now and make sure you qualify!