Income tax query

[mrichard]

Hi all,

I am rather new to income tax as I only started working at the start of this year.
Now I fall into the brackets where my taxable salary is between 188 001 – 293 600.
Thus I have to pay 33 840 + 26% of taxable income above 188 000.
The company where I work does my taxes for me and I receive a payslip with the tax deducted.

Now my question:
Can I be taxed on other transfers made into my account in the month, which are technically not income. Like for instance,
I used my credit card to buy something online for a friend who does not have a credit card, and he does an EFT to give me the money, say for instance R1500.
Or say I am at a restaurant with friends or colleges, and I pay the bill with my card and then afterwards the people transfer there share into my account with FNB geopay or EFT or something similar. (We often do this to avoid 5 people having to to swipe their card to pay a bill).

Now say this happens 4 times a month, it can add up to maybe R1500. And if I bought something online for someone else using my card, for instance a monthly or bi-monthly supplement purchase of R1500.
Now this will total to an extra R3000 per month being payed into my account. Now will this be seen as extra 'income' that is taxable for 26%? Meaning I have to pay an extra R780 of tax each month?

 

[Gtx Gaming]

You don't earn more than 350k per year, so you don't have to file a income tax return . Unless you have more than 1 income .

No that not taxable, but SARS might have issue with it, if they audit you. They might audit you if you file a tax return, again not needed to file one as you earn less than 350k per year.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Be careful with the 350k limit, things like car and travel allowances can trip you up. SARS has an anonymous questionnaire that tells you if you should or shouldn't file a return. http://www.sars.gov.za/TaxTypes/PIT/Pages/Do-you-need-to-submit-a-return.aspx

WRT the other money transferred in, keep invoices, receipts and other documentation in case SARS does question it. Be able to prove that you paid for something and someone else covered part or all of the cost without you making a profit. They would be unlikely to question you just based on that, but as Gtx said, something else might trigger an audit.

 

[Vleis12]

Getting refunded by someone for paying an expense on their behalf is not taxable as it is not included in 'gross income'.
It is merely the means of paying for your part of the expense which is a personal expense and not tax deductable.

 

[airborne]

You don't earn more than 350k per year, so you don't have to file a income tax return . Unless you have more than 1 income .

No that not taxable, but SARS might have issue with it, if they audit you. They might audit you if you file a tax return, again not needed to file one as you earn less than 350k per year.

That's if there's no refunds owing to you or any other tax deductible expenses you can claim and/or you aren't interested in claiming them back.

Lots of people get tax deducted from their paychecks and submitted by their employees and think they are under the level to submit so don't but little do they know that because they earned in that annum say under the R80k(or whatever it is tax free bracket) and can claim all that tax paid back... Apparently that is a very common scenario for some industries, especially contract work etc.

Getting refunded by someone for paying an expense on their behalf is not taxable as it is not included in 'gross income'.
It is merely the means of paying for your part of the expense which is a personal expense and not tax deductable.

But they are going to want proof if it comes to that, granted for such small sums Sars is probably not going to blink an eye, keeping the slips will help though.

 

[mrichard]

Thanks for the helpful responses, as always. Cheers!