YOU BOUGHT A THING.WHAT HAPPENS?

A genuine donation to a school approved for section 18A is deductible, but school fees repackaged as a donation are not.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

Public schools and many independent schools can be approved for section 18A because education is a qualifying public benefit activity. The deduction still requires a valid 18A receipt and stays within the percentage of taxable income limit.

Deductible for a business owner where it maintains the skills of the trade you already carry on, not where it qualifies you for something new.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

The distinction that matters is maintaining versus acquiring. A plumber's course on a new pipe system, or the CPD hours your professional body requires you to keep your licence, maintains an existing income earning ability and is generally a revenue expense. A course that qualifies you to enter a new field is closer to capital and is much harder to sustain. If you are a salaried employee rather than a business owner, the answer is different and much worse, see the separate item.

An ATM withdrawal fee follows what the cash was for, exactly like the withdrawal itself: business cash is deductible, personal cash is not, and a bank statement cannot tell you which. PLEASE CONFIRM WITH YOUR TAX PRACTITIONER: this item is matched to an existing rule by general principle, not a SARS ruling written for this exact situation, so check it applies before relying on it.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

The fee is incidental to the withdrawal, so it takes the same character as the withdrawal it belongs to under s11(a). Cash drawn to pay a casual worker or buy stock at a cash-only supplier is business expenditure and the fee follows it. Cash drawn for personal spending is not, and neither is its fee.

A portable heater or fan is written off as equipment, but a fixed split unit installed into the wall usually becomes part of the building and is treated as capital improvement rather than a quick deduction.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

The facts that decide it are whether the unit is movable or permanently affixed, and whether the room qualifies as a home office at all. A plug-in heater used in a qualifying office is equipment under s11(e), apportioned for private use, and often under the small item threshold. A fixed installation attached to the structure of a private home is more likely to be capital expenditure on the residence, which adds to base cost rather than giving a deduction. A sole proprietor operating from a genuinely separate structure may have a different and better answer.

Arguable as a business travel cost if you travel constantly for work, but it looks like entertainment and the VAT on it is denied.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Where lounge access is used to work between meetings on genuine business trips, an income tax deduction can be argued under the general deduction rule, apportioned for private travel. But the supply is essentially food, drink and hospitality, so input tax on entertainment is denied for VAT. A lounge benefit that comes free with a credit card costs you nothing separately and so gives nothing to claim.

The monthly armed response and monitoring fee on a let property is deductible, but installing the alarm and cameras is capital.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Recurring monitoring, armed response and alarm service contracts on a property that earns rent are ordinary running costs. The installation of an alarm panel, beams and a camera system is the acquisition of an asset or an improvement to the property and is not deductible in the year. Where the equipment is genuinely removable plant used to produce rental income, a wear and tear claim may be arguable and is worth asking about.

The installed security equipment is written off over time under wear and tear, but burglar bars and security gates fixed to a building you own may be treated as part of the building instead.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Cameras, alarm panels, beams and electric fence energisers are movable equipment and normally attract s11(e) wear and tear over the accepted period. Burglar bars, security gates and walls fixed into the structure are more likely to be capital improvements to the property, which for an owner sit in base cost rather than in a deduction. A VAT vendor claims the input tax on the installation invoice for business premises in the normal way.

Plan and approval fees take the character of what you are building, so they are almost always capital rather than deductible.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Fees for designing and getting approval for an extension, a cottage or a new structure form part of the cost of that improvement and go to base cost, or into the allowance base if the building qualifies for a building allowance. If the plans were for a project that never went ahead, the cost is generally still capital in nature and simply lost. Plans drawn purely to regularise existing unapproved structures before a sale are a cost of disposal question worth asking about.

Materials and studio rent are deductible against art income, but paint sitting in unsold work is closer to stock than to a spent expense.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Studio rent, electricity for a kiln, framing and delivery to galleries are running costs deductible when incurred. Materials consumed are deductible, but where you hold finished unsold works as stock the cost tied up in them may need to be carried as closing stock rather than deducted immediately. Gallery commission deducted from your sale price is a business expense, and you should declare the gross sale and claim the commission, not just bank the net.

The bed and machines are equipment written off over time; wax, strips, lash glue and creams are consumables deducted as you use them.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A treatment bed, facial steamer, laser or IPL machine is equipment recovered through wear and tear over its write-off period, and financing it does not change that: only the interest portion of the instalment is a running deduction, not the whole instalment. Consumables and product used in treatments are deductible when used, with unused stock at year end added back. If you work from a room at home you are into home office territory, which has its own strict requirements about a dedicated, exclusively used space.

A bicycle genuinely used in a trade is a business asset written off over time, but cycling to the office is a private commute.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

If the bike is a tool of the trade, for example a courier or a delivery service, it is capital, written off under wear and tear, and its repairs and parts are running costs. If it is used to get to work it is a commute and gives no deduction at all. There is no South African tax incentive for cycling to work, unlike some other countries, so do not assume one exists. A registered vendor can generally claim input tax on a bicycle since it is not a motor car.

Bond costs are financing costs, not property costs, and they usually get neither a deduction nor a place in base cost.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Registering a bond relates to raising the loan, not to acquiring the property, so it does not naturally sit in base cost the way transfer duty and conveyancing do. Whether any part of the cost of raising finance is deductible against rental or business income depends on the specific provision relied on and is a question a practitioner should answer for your facts. The ongoing bond interest is a separate and much more important item and is deductible against rental income.

A freestanding bookshelf is office furniture written off under wear and tear, but built in shelving fixed to the wall is an improvement to the house, not a deduction.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

The dividing fact is whether the item is movable furniture or permanently attached to the structure. Freestanding shelving follows the furniture write-off period and may fall under the small item threshold. Built in joinery becomes part of the residence, so it is capital expenditure that may increase the base cost of the property for capital gains purposes instead of producing an income tax deduction.

A settlement paid is deductible if the risk of that claim is an inseparable part of how you trade, and not deductible if it is not.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

The test is whether the liability arose from the ordinary operations of your trade and is a risk inseparably connected with carrying it on. A builder settling a defective workmanship claim is close to the line and often deductible. A settlement that is really the price of acquiring or protecting a capital asset, or that arises from something outside your trade, is not. Fines and penalties imposed for unlawful conduct are separately and specifically blocked.

Small annual defensive renewals sit with the ordinary domain renewal item already in the catalogue; a single large purchase to recover a squatted domain is closer to a capital cost of protecting the trademark.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

The distinction is size and purpose: routine renewal versus a one-off acquisition of an asset.

A maintenance plan bundled into the purchase price is not a separate deduction, but it does change the numbers on a company car and on the deemed cost table.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

If the plan is built into the price of the vehicle, it forms part of the cost you write off, not a separate expense. A separately purchased plan on a business vehicle is a running cost, apportioned for private use. For an employee with a company car, a lower monthly percentage of the determined value applies where the car is subject to a maintenance plan, and for a travel allowance the deemed maintenance element of the cost table falls away if the car is on a plan.

Same rule as an ATM fee: the fee takes the character of the cash it was drawn for. PLEASE CONFIRM WITH YOUR TAX PRACTITIONER: this item is matched to an existing rule by general principle, not a SARS ruling written for this exact situation, so check it applies before relying on it.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Covers branch counter withdrawals and till-point cash-back fees, which carry a different bank descriptor from an ATM withdrawal but the identical tax question. See EX-FIN-037.

Hire income for a private venue is taxable, and the cleaning, extra water, electricity and any breakage the event caused are deductible costs against it.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

Once this becomes regular weekend hire rather than a once-off favour for a friend, it starts to look like a trade in its own right and needs its own basic record keeping, separate from a personal household budget.

Small, cheap items bought for the office can usually be written off in full in the year you buy them, while anything above the small item threshold has to be written off bit by bit over its useful life.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

The wear and tear allowance in s11(e) is the general rule for business equipment: you claim a slice each year, not the whole price. There is a long standing exception for small items: assets costing less than a set rand amount per item may be written off in full in the year of acquisition. The threshold is a specific rand figure per item, not per invoice, and it is set by SARS practice rather than something you choose. This is why a plug adaptor and a fridge get different answers even though both plug into the same wall.

A private chef or caterer can claim knives, whites and tools; a chef employed in a restaurant kitchen generally cannot claim the same items.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Trading for own account as a private chef, caterer or pop-up operator makes knives, whites, thermometers, transport containers and ingredient purchases deductible, with knives usually below the small item write-off threshold. Ingredients bought for a specific event are deductible when the event happens, and food still in the fridge at year end is stock. A chef on a restaurant's payroll is a salaried employee and cannot deduct the knife roll he was required to buy, although wear and tear on equipment he owns and uses in his duties may be worth investigating.

The machine is equipment, the pods are consumables, and the two are treated differently: the machine may have to be written off over time if it is expensive, while the coffee itself is a running cost.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A cheap pod machine falls under the small item write off and comes off in full. A commercial bean to cup machine will usually exceed the small item threshold and is written off under s11(e) over its useful life. The pods, beans, milk and sugar are consumed as you go and are deducted as spent. The VAT position is where it gets uncomfortable: refreshments supplied to staff or clients fall inside the VAT definition of entertainment, so input tax on the coffee itself is normally denied even though the income tax deduction stands.

A company car is a taxable fringe benefit each month, and you reduce it on assessment by proving business kilometres with a logbook.

The answer turns on the facts · Salaried employee

A monthly percentage of the determined value of the vehicle is included in your remuneration, with a lower percentage where the car is subject to a maintenance plan. PAYE is withheld on a portion of that benefit. On assessment the benefit is reduced in the ratio of business kilometres to total kilometres, and further reduced where you personally bore the cost of licence, insurance, maintenance or fuel for private travel. All of it comes off the logbook.

Replacing a whole roof usually reads as an improvement, especially if the new roof is better than the old one, so the deduction is far from automatic.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Repairing part of a roof restores the property. Replacing the entire roof renews a substantial whole and SARS often treats it as capital. Changing the character or quality of the roof, for example thatch to tile, or adding insulation and new trusses that were not there, pushes it firmly into improvement. Where a like for like replacement was forced by damage and the property is simply back to its former condition, a repair argument exists but you must be able to evidence it.

If content is a real income earning trade, lighting, microphones and camera gear are equipment written off over time, while software and platform fees are deducted in full.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Cameras, microphones, lighting and capture cards are equipment on wear and tear, with many individual items falling under the small item write-off threshold. Editing subscriptions, hosting, platform fees and music licensing are running costs. The prior question is whether you are carrying on a trade: consistent income from brand deals, ad revenue or subscriptions supports it, while an aspirational channel with no revenue does not, and losses from an activity that is not a trade cannot be set off against your salary. Products given to you free by brands are usually income at their value, not free stuff.

Cleaning up after a breach is generally deductible, but any fine or penalty imposed on you is not, and a ransom payment is legally fraught.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Forensic investigation, system rebuild, legal advice, notification costs and cyber insurance premiums are expenditure incurred in carrying on the trade and are generally deductible. A penalty imposed by the Information Regulator or any other administrative fine is expressly not deductible. A ransom paid to a criminal is a separate problem: quite apart from deductibility, it may be unlawful, and payments that are unlawful are denied. Any insurance recovery you receive is brought into income against the costs.

Working as an independent delivery driver, fuel, data, maintenance and the bag are deductible; the bike itself is written off over time.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Gig platform drivers are usually contracting for own account rather than employed, which means fuel, maintenance, tyres, helmet, thermal bag, phone data and platform commission are deductible against delivery income. The motorbike or scooter is an asset on wear and tear. A logbook or the platform's own trip records are essential to show the business portion where the same bike is also used privately. Traffic fines are not deductible.

Credit life on your own home is a private cost with no deduction, but on a bond over a rental property it is arguably a cost of the rental trade.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

On a primary residence there is no trade and no deduction. Where the bond is over a property you let, and the credit life cover is a requirement of the loan producing the rental income, there is a reasonable argument that the premium is deductible along with the bond interest. Take advice, and be clear that the bond capital repayment is never deductible in any case.

Deductible against trading income if the crypto is held as part of a trade; on a purely personal holding the fees instead adjust base cost for capital gains, mirroring the brokerage item already in the catalogue.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

The revenue-versus-capital question has to be answered first, using the same badges-of-trade analysis SARS applies to any asset.

Blinds for a qualifying office room may be claimable as low value equipment or as part of fitting out the office, but on a private home the domestic character of the spend usually wins.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

The facts that decide it are whether the room passes the s23(b) exclusivity test, whether the item is movable or fitted, and how private the character of the spend is. Movable curtains in a genuinely exclusive office used to reduce screen glare have an argument under wear and tear, most likely below the small item threshold. Fitted shutters attached to the building are an improvement to the residence. A salaried employee faces the additional s23(m) filter, though wear and tear does survive it.

Decks, speakers and lighting are equipment written off over time, while music pool subscriptions and track purchases used for paid sets are running costs.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A controller, CDJs, a mixer, PA speakers and lighting rigs are equipment recovered through wear and tear, with cheaper individual items potentially falling under the small item write-off threshold. Subscriptions to record pools and streaming services used to source music for paid sets are deductible, apportioned if you also listen to them privately, which most people do. Transport to venues, insurance on the rig and equipment repairs are deductible running costs.

What you received is taxed according to what it replaced: lost profits are income, damage to a capital asset or reputation is capital.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

This is the fill the hole principle. If the payment compensates you for income you would otherwise have earned, such as lost trading profits or unpaid fees, it is gross income and fully taxable. If it compensates you for the loss or impairment of a capital asset, it is a capital receipt and goes into the CGT calculation instead, potentially with a rollover if it was an involuntary disposal. Personal injury and defamation awards to an individual are generally treated very differently again.

Damages paid are deductible only where the wrong arose out of your ordinary trading operations, never where they are a fine or arise outside the trade.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Damages for a trading mishap, for example a delivery vehicle causing damage while on a business run, are generally closer to deductible. Damages arising from conduct that is not part of the trade, or that relate to a capital asset, are not. Any element that is a fine, penalty or payment for unlawful activity is expressly disallowed regardless of how it is described.

Treating damp in an existing wall is usually a deductible repair, but installing a damp proof course that the building never had can be an improvement.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Where you are restoring a failed damp proof layer or repairing water damaged plaster, that is repair. Where an older building had no damp proof course at all and you install one, you have added something new and SARS may treat it as capital. In practice many damp jobs are a mix of replastering, which repairs, and a new injected course, which improves.

Demolition costs usually attach to whatever you build next rather than giving you a deduction, and any relief for the value of what you demolished depends on the allowance history of that building.

The answer turns on the facts · Company

Where you demolish to clear the site for a new structure, the cost is part of the capital cost of the new build. Where a structure is demolished and not replaced, whether any loss or scrapping relief is available turns on whether the demolished asset qualified for capital allowances, because relief on scrapping generally only applies to assets that were being written off. Buildings and structures often sit outside that relief, which is an unwelcome surprise.

The chair, X-ray unit and scanner are practice equipment written off over years; materials and dental lab fees are deducted as you use them.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Dental units, imaging equipment and sterilisers are equipment recovered through wear and tear over the applicable write-off period. Composites, impression materials, burs, gloves and single use items are consumables deductible when incurred, with unused stock added back at year end. Laboratory fees for crowns and dentures are deductible when incurred, and where you have billed the patient but not yet paid the lab, match the periods properly.

Bought outright you write the device off over time; taken on a contract you are financing it, so the device part is still an asset and only the interest and service charges are running costs.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Buying a device gives you an asset with a cost, written off under wear and tear from the date it is brought into use. Taking the same device on a 24 or 36 month contract does not turn it into a monthly expense: in substance you have bought it on credit, so the device portion is capitalised and written off, the finance charge is deductible interest, and the airtime and data portion is a running cost. A true rental where the device goes back and never becomes yours is different and is deductible as rent.

Fees for looking after someone's pet are taxable income once they are more than an occasional favour, and a portion of food, bedding and vet call-outs directly tied to the boarded animal is deductible against it.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

Only costs for the boarded animal count. Costs for the sitter's own pets are private expenditure and cannot be blended into the claim.

Annual domain renewals are a small deductible running cost, but paying a large premium to buy an existing domain from someone is capital.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A normal registration or renewal of a domain, together with hosting, is a recurring operating cost and comes off in the year. Buying a valuable existing domain from a third party for a substantial sum is acquiring an asset with lasting value, which is capital and goes to base cost rather than being deducted. The size of the payment and whether it is recurring are the practical indicators.

The annual renewal is a small deductible running cost, but buying an existing premium domain from someone is capital.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A yearly registration or renewal fee is revenue expenditure deductible in the year. Paying a significant amount to acquire an existing domain from a third party is acquiring an enduring asset and is capital, so it is not deductible in the year and instead forms part of base cost or possibly qualifies for an allowance if it is intellectual property.

A domestic worker is a private household expense, and only a genuinely business specific portion of cleaning could ever be claimed, which for most people is nothing.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

The facts that matter are whether there is an identifiable business cleaning function, whether it is separately contracted and paid for, and whether you can evidence it. A sole proprietor who pays a cleaner specifically to service a customer facing office space has an argument for that portion. A salaried employee has almost none, because s23(m) leaves only premises expenditure and equipment allowances open. Remember the domestic worker still has UIF and, above the earnings threshold, PAYE and compensation fund obligations regardless of any deduction.

Replacing a lock, calling a locksmith or cutting keys is a deductible repair, while installing an access control system is equipment written off over time.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Restoring what was there, a broken lock replaced with a similar lock, is a repair under s11(d) and deducted. Cutting spare keys and emergency locksmith call outs are running costs. Installing a biometric reader, card access system or an electric gate motor where none existed creates a new asset, so it falls into s11(e) wear and tear or, if the amount per item is small enough, the small item write off.

You can claim an allowance for debts that look doubtful but are not yet written off, calculated on a prescribed basis rather than on your own estimate.

The answer turns on the facts · Company

The doubtful debt allowance is based on how long a debt has been outstanding, using percentages set in the legislation, and the basis differs depending on whether the taxpayer applies IFRS 9 for financial reporting. Whatever allowance you claim in one year is added back to income in the following year and a fresh allowance is calculated, so it is a timing benefit rather than a permanent one. Your own accounting provision is not automatically the tax number.

Losses from drought, fire or flood are recognised through the normal farming account, and there are specific First Schedule reliefs that only apply if you use them correctly.

The answer turns on the facts · Farmer

Stock that dies is simply not there at year end, which reduces closing stock and therefore taxable income, provided you record it. Assets destroyed may trigger a recoupment or a scrapping adjustment, and insurance or disaster grants received are income. Separately, the First Schedule contains relief aimed at drought and disaster situations, including deferral where livestock is sold off because of drought.

If the interest on the loan was deductible, the settlement penalty usually follows it, but a penalty on a private loan gives you nothing.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A settlement or breakage charge is a cost of the borrowing arrangement, so it tends to take the same character as the interest it replaces. Where the loan funded a trade and the interest was deductible, there is a good argument for deducting the penalty in the year it is incurred. Where the loan funded a private house or a personal purchase, there is no deduction. Note that this is a contractual charge, not a fine imposed by law, so the rule denying deductions for fines and penalties does not apply to it.

The first electric fence is an improvement you cannot deduct, but servicing or repairing an existing one is a deductible running cost.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Installing electric fencing where there was none adds a new feature and is capital, so it goes to base cost. Once it exists, the annual service, replacing a blown energiser, restringing broken wires and the electric fence certificate of compliance are deductible against rental income. If the fence and energiser are genuinely removable plant rather than part of the structure, a wear and tear claim may be arguable, and that is a fact question worth asking a practitioner about.

Running your own electrical business, test gear and your registration renewal are claimable business costs, but the test gear usually comes off over several years, not all at once.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Annual registration as an installation or master installation electrician, and the body's renewal fee, are ordinary costs of carrying on the trade and are deductible in the year paid. Test instruments are equipment: below the small item write-off threshold they can be written off immediately, above it they go on wear and tear over the applicable period. The original qualification and trade test that got you registered in the first place is a different animal: initial qualification costs are usually treated as capital or private in nature, while a renewal or CPD refresher is a running cost.

Deductible for the employer if it is a genuine work health and safety cost, not simply home furniture provided as a perk.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Where the employer retains ownership of the equipment, it is a business asset written off under wear and tear; where it becomes the employee's property, it may instead be a taxable fringe benefit.

A commission earning estate agent can deduct real marketing and running costs, which is a genuine exception to the rule that employees cannot deduct work expenses.

The answer turns on the facts · Salaried employee

Where more than the required proportion of your remuneration is commission based on sales, the usual s23(m) block does not apply in the same way and you may deduct expenditure actually incurred in producing that commission: portal listing fees, boards, show day catering, printing, cellphone and business kilometres on a logbook. Annual Fidelity Fund certificate and PPRA fees are running costs of being allowed to trade. The PPRE or professional designation examination that qualifies you in the first place is closer to acquiring a qualification and is a weaker claim than the annual renewal.

An independent adviser with their own FSP licence deducts the levies, compliance and CPD in full; a tied agent on a payslip generally cannot.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

For a licensed FSP trading for own account, FSCA levies, external compliance officer fees, professional indemnity cover, CPD and licence renewal are ordinary running costs deductible in the year. The RE1 and RE5 regulatory examinations, and the initial qualification needed to get licensed, are entry requirements and are closer to acquiring a qualification, so they are a materially weaker claim than the annual levies. An adviser employed by an insurer as a tied agent is caught by s23(m) unless they meet the commission earner test.

Annual servicing, refills and the fire compliance inspection are deductible running costs, while a substantial installed fire system is equipment written off over time.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Servicing, pressure testing, refills and the municipal or private fire compliance inspection are recurring and deducted as incurred. A portable extinguisher is usually cheap enough for the small item write off. A hose reel installation, sprinkler system or detection system installed into the building is a different scale and can be either wear and tear equipment or, if it becomes part of the structure, part of the building's cost with its own capital treatment.

If drought forces you to sell livestock you did not plan to sell, the First Schedule allows the proceeds to be spread or deferred rather than taxed all in one brutal year.

The answer turns on the facts · Farmer

The relief is aimed at a farmer who destocks because of drought, stock disease or similar conditions and then restocks later. In broad terms the proceeds can be held over and brought into income over subsequent years, or set against the cost of replacement stock, subject to conditions including time limits and, in some cases, the area being formally declared. The mechanics and the election requirements are specific, so this is one to get applied properly rather than assumed.

Exchange differences on business debts are generally brought to account for tax, but the rules differ sharply between companies and individuals.

The answer turns on the facts · Company

For a company, exchange gains and losses on foreign currency debts and forward contracts are usually included or deducted as they arise, whether or not the amount has been settled. For an individual or a trust the rules are narrower and often only apply where the item is held in the course of trade, which means a private foreign payment may produce no deduction at all. The distinction between a realised loss on settlement and an unrealised year end translation difference matters and is not intuitive.

Game farming can be farming for tax purposes, but game is not automatically livestock and the treatment of purchases and year end game numbers needs to be established for your specific operation.

The answer turns on the facts · Farmer

Whether an operation is farming, and whether particular game animals are trading stock with a value at year end, has been the subject of specific SARS rulings and practice rather than a simple statutory list. High value breeding game bought at auction is a particular area where the deduction has been challenged. Hunting and lodge income sitting alongside game breeding may not be farming income at all.

A monthly gardener at a property you let is deductible, while landscaping that transforms the garden is a capital improvement.

The answer turns on the facts · Landlord

Recurring maintenance such as mowing, hedge trimming and garden refuse removal at a let property is a running cost of earning rent. Building retaining walls, laying a new irrigation system, terracing, or installing instant lawn where there was none creates something new and is capital. Replacing dead plants in an existing bed is maintenance.

For a restaurant, cafe or caterer the stove is an asset written off over time and the gas refills are a straight deductible running cost; at home neither is deductible.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Gas refills consumed in producing income are ordinary trading stock or overhead, fully deductible in the year. The stove itself is equipment subject to wear and tear, or a full write-off if it falls under the small item threshold. If the same bottles feed your house braai, apportion. A gas stove in a private kitchen gets nothing, and if it is built in it is an improvement adding to base cost rather than a deduction.

Money received for driving someone becomes taxable income the moment it is more than an occasional petrol contribution among friends, and once it is income, the actual running costs apportioned to those trips become deductible against it.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

Runs on the same logic as any other vehicle-for-income item already in the catalogue: a logbook proving business kilometres is what makes the deduction real, informal or not.

The tablet is equipment written off over time; font and stock image licences bought for client work are deducted in the year.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

A Cintiq, iPad Pro or colour-calibrated monitor is equipment recovered through wear and tear, with smaller items possibly under the small item write-off threshold. Per-project font licences, stock photography, mockup packs and plugin subscriptions are ordinary running costs. Where a client reimburses you for a stock licence, that reimbursement is income and the licence is your expense; do not simply leave both off the return.

Chairs, basins and dryers are salon equipment written off over time, while colour, treatments and retail products are stock deducted as you sell or use them.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

Chairs, wash basins, mirrors and hooded dryers are equipment recovered through wear and tear. Scissors, clippers and a straightener will often individually fall under the small item write-off threshold and come off in full. Colour, peroxide, shampoo used in treatments and retail product you resell are trading stock, so closing stock on the shelf at year end is added back and only what actually went through the salon reduces this year's profit. If you rent a chair in someone else's salon you are usually trading for your own account, and the chair rental itself is deductible.

Review fees follow whatever the contract itself is: reviewing a supply agreement is deductible, reviewing the purchase of a business or a property is not.

The answer turns on the facts · Sole proprietor or freelancer

This is the clearest place to see the capital versus revenue split. Same attorney, same hourly rate, completely different answer depending on the document on the desk. Reviewing your standard customer terms protects existing income and is deductible. Reviewing the agreement under which you buy premises, buy a business, or acquire shares is a cost of acquiring an asset and goes to base cost.

At home a heat pump gives no deduction and only adds to base cost; in a business there is an ordinary write-off and possibly an energy efficiency allowance if you go through certification.

The answer turns on the facts · Anyone

For a private residence this is an improvement, treated exactly like the gas geyser: no deduction, add it to base cost. For a business, the unit is plant subject to wear and tear. There is also a separate energy efficiency savings allowance for businesses that achieve measured savings, but it requires a certificate from the designated national body and independent measurement and verification, which is only worth doing at meaningful scale.