South Africans registered as provisional taxpayers need to make their second payment for this tax year no later than 26 February 2010. MoreThanMoney has created a spreadsheet to help you calculate which figures to fill in on your provisional tax form (IRP6).

What would you need before you can start using this calculator?

You will need your payslips, invoices, proof of business expenses, bank accounts and investment statements, details about medical expenses, a list of all your RA contributions, a list of all your donations to Section 18(A) charities, a log book for your business travel expenses, and details of capital gains transactions, where applicable.

If you are going to deduct medical expenses, retirement fund contributions and donations, you will also need a SARS 2009/2010 tax pocket guide which states the limits to these expenses that you are allowed to deduct for tax-purposes.

How does the calculator work?

Click on the Input sheet tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet and then complete all the fields in green. Take special care wherever the tool asks for allowable deductions. You may have to familiarise yourself with the SARS 2009/2010 tax pocket guide to determine how much you are allowed to deduct for medical expenses, retirement fund contributions and donations.

If you have sold any non-personal assets, e.g. your primary residence, investment property or other investments, you can calculate your capital gain by using another MoreThanMoney tool called Calculating the CGT for your IRP6 2009/10.

Once you’ve entered all the relevant information on this sheet, click on the Result tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. If applicable, you may still need to enter the amount paid to SARS for the first half of the tax year, as well as any penalties imposed by SARS, before arriving at the final amount payable by 26 February 2010.

What do you need to watch out for when using the calculator?

This tool does not automatically limit your medical expenses, retirement fund contributions and donations to the maximum amounts that SARS will allow you do deduct. You need to find out which limits apply to you and adjust the amounts that you enter on the spreadsheet accordingly. Someone who takes care of a disabled person, for example, is allowed more medical deductions than an individual who is the sole beneficiary of his or her medical aid membership.

For whom does the calculator not cater?

To keep it simple, this tool assumes that you have no business losses which you need to/want to ring-fence, i.e. carry over to future tax years, and that your foreign interest and dividends are less than R3500. Oh, and it also assumes that you are single or married out of community of property and not a legal body like a trust or a close corporation.

Disclaimer

MoreThanMoney unfortunately cannot take into account every taxpayer’s unique situation and can therefore not take responsibility for tax issues not covered by the calculator. MoreThanMoney does not take any responsibility for losses suffered due to the use of its calculators.

Tags: capital gains, provisional tax, SARS

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Money matters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.