When making a purchase for your business, you should always ensure you receive a valid VAT invoice. This enables you to claim input VAT from SARS. With the change in VAT rate from 14% to 15%, VAT has come under the spotlight. This brings more focus on VAT compliance and more specifically on when we can claim input VAT on an invoice, and what constitutes a valid VAT invoice. This is something small that is very much neglected when it comes to monthly bookkeeping. It is very important to pay attention to the invoices that are sent to your accountants as these invoices need to be “valid” before the input VAT can be claimed from the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Please read through the following crucial information carefully with regard to valid VAT invoices.
South Africa operates on a VAT system whereby VAT registered businesses are allowed to claim the VAT (input VAT) incurred on business expenses from the VAT collected (output VAT) on the supplies made by the business. The most crucial document in such a system is the tax invoice. Without a valid tax invoice, a business cannot deduct input tax paid on business expenses.
The VAT Act prescribes that a tax invoice must contain certain details about the taxable supply made by the business as well as the parties to the transaction. The VAT Act also prescribes the timeframe within which a tax invoice must be issued (i.e. 21 days from the time the supply was made).
A business is required to issue a full tax invoice when the price is more than R5 000 and may issue an abridged tax invoice when the consideration for the supply is R 5 000 or less than R5 000. No tax invoice is needed for a supply of R50 or less. However, a document such as a till slip or sales docket indicating the VAT charged by the supplier will still be required to verify the tax deducted.
As from 8 January 2016, the following information must be present on a tax invoice for it to be considered valid by SARS:
- Contains the words “Tax Invoice”, “VAT Invoice” or “Invoice”;
- Name, address and VAT registration number of the supplier;
- Name, address and where the recipient is a vendor, the recipient’s VAT registration number;
- Serial number and date of issue of invoice;
- Correct description of goods and /or services (indicating where the applicable goods are second hand);
- Quantity or volume of goods or services supplied; and
- Value of the supply, the amount of tax charged and the consideration of the supply.
This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied upon as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)
