Who Can Claim Travel Expenses
South African employees who use a personal vehicle for business travel — and who receive a travel allowance or a company car with a taxable benefit — can claim a deduction against their travel allowance on assessment. This applies to salespeople, property managers, field technicians, healthcare workers, and anyone else who drives for work purposes.
You cannot claim personal travel — commuting from home to your regular place of work does not qualify. Only travel away from your regular place of work, undertaken for business purposes, qualifies for the deduction.
The Logbook — Non-Negotiable
SARS requires a travel logbook as the primary evidence for a travel deduction. Without a logbook, any travel claim is disallowable on audit. The logbook must record for every business trip:
- Date of the trip
- Starting point and destination
- Purpose of the trip (client name, meeting purpose)
- Opening and closing odometer reading for the trip
- Total kilometres for the trip
You must also record your odometer at 1 March (start of the tax year) and 28/29 February (end of the tax year) to establish your total annual kilometres. Business kilometres are expressed as a proportion of total kilometres driven.
Digital logbooks (apps like SARS eFiling's logbook tool, or third-party apps) are acceptable. A spreadsheet saved in cloud storage works well. A handwritten paper logbook is also acceptable. What SARS will not accept is a reconstructed logbook produced after the fact based on estimates.
The SARS Fixed Cost Table Method
SARS publishes an annual fixed cost table that sets out deductible amounts per kilometre based on the value of the vehicle. The table has three components:
- Fixed costs — depreciation, insurance, licence. Expressed as a fixed annual amount based on the vehicle value.
- Fuel costs — per kilometre rate based on vehicle value
- Maintenance costs — per kilometre rate based on vehicle value
To calculate your deductible amount: take the fixed cost (annual, prorated for months of use), add the fuel and maintenance cost per km multiplied by your business kilometres, then multiply the total by your business travel percentage (business km ÷ total km).
SARS publishes updated tables each year on sars.gov.za. The vehicle value used is the retail market value at the time of purchase (including VAT and extras).
Actual Cost Method
As an alternative to the fixed cost table, you can claim actual costs incurred — fuel receipts, maintenance invoices, insurance premiums, licensing costs, and depreciation. This requires keeping every expense receipt and may be more advantageous if your actual costs are higher than the SARS table allows. It involves significantly more record-keeping.
Most employed South Africans use the SARS table method; the actual cost method is more common for self-employed individuals where vehicle expenses pass through a business.
Travel Allowance vs Company Car
If your employer pays you a travel allowance (reflected on your IRP5 under code 3701), 80% of that allowance is included in your taxable income for PAYE purposes during the year. When you submit your tax return and provide a logbook showing your business travel, SARS calculates the deductible portion using the fixed cost table and refunds the tax on the excess included in your PAYE.
If you have a company car with a fringe benefit (code 3802 on your IRP5), the fringe benefit calculation is based on the vehicle's determined value. You can reduce the fringe benefit by demonstrating business travel, but the calculation is different — your tax practitioner can help model this.
Common Mistakes
- Not keeping a logbook and trying to estimate business travel at year end
- Including commuting kilometres as business travel
- Using the wrong vehicle value (purchase price excluding VAT and accessories when SARS requires the full retail value)
- Forgetting to record opening and closing odometer readings for the full tax year
- Claiming 100% business travel without a logbook that supports it — SARS audits high business travel percentages