/ 28 February 2007

Check your odometer for the tax man

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has advised taxpayers who earn a motor-vehicle allowance to record their odometer reading (mileage) on February 28, the end of the tax year for individual taxpayers.

Taxpayers in receipt of a motor-vehicle allowance are required to supply Sars with their opening (March 1 of each year) and closing (February 28 of the next year) odometer readings in their tax returns in order to qualify for any deductions in this regard.

The reading will help individual taxpayers to fill in their logbooks accurately. The exercise will also help distinguish between the proportion for distances travelled for business purposes and for the private use of motor vehicles from the total distance travelled for the 2006/07 tax year.

Sars has published radio and newspaper advertisements to remind motorists of “Odometer Reading Day”.