If you, like many South Africans, have spent the better part of 2020 working from home, there’s a bit of good news; you can claim back a portion of your tax deduction.
If you’ve worked from home for more than half your total working hours or for more than six months during the tax year that started in March 2020, you qualify to claim.
Kaya Biz spoke to Elani van der Westhuizen, senior tax technical at TaxTim who broke down how this would work.
It is important to ensure that you meet these minimum requirements as explained in the TaxTim home office decision tree. These are the factors that will be considered:
- You have spent more than half of your total working hours working from your home office.
- You have a letter from your employer that states that you can work from home and confirms the percentage of time you spent there.
- You have an area of your home exclusively used and set up for work. Your home office is specifically equipped with the relevant instruments, tools and equipment needed to do your work.
If you meet these requirements, you can claim rent or interest on your bond, repairs to the premises, rates and taxes, water and electricity, cleaning, data usage, wear and tear of office equipment and all other expenses relating to your house only.
If you earn a commission that is more than 50% of your total salary, you can also claim for other commission-related business expenses, such as a phone, internet, stationery and printer repairs.
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