If your business is VAT registered, every rand of VAT you pay on legitimate business expenses is a rand you can claim back from SARS. Most businesses know this in theory. Far fewer claim everything they're entitled to, usually because a slip went missing or an invoice didn't meet SARS's requirements.
Here's a practical walkthrough of how VAT claims actually work in South Africa, what changed for 2026, and where businesses lose money without realising it.
Who can claim input VAT
Only VAT vendors can claim input tax, and only on purchases used to make taxable supplies. If you're not registered, you can't claim, full stop.
Registration itself has shifted for 2026. From 1 April 2026, the compulsory registration threshold rises from R1 million to R2.3 million in taxable supplies over any rolling 12-month period. Voluntary registration is now open from R120,000, up from R50,000. If your turnover sits between R1 million and R2.3 million, registration is no longer mandatory, and you now have a genuine choice about whether staying registered still works in your favour.
What you can actually claim
VAT is charged at the standard rate of 15%. When you buy stock, equipment, or services for the business and pay VAT on them, that VAT is your input tax. Subtract your total input tax from the output tax you charged customers, and the difference is what you pay SARS or what SARS owes you.
Claimable expenses generally include:
- Office supplies, equipment, and stock
- Commercial rent and business utilities
- Professional services (accounting, legal, marketing)
- Software and subscriptions used for the business
- Second-hand goods bought from a non-vendor, provided you record the seller's ID, address, and a proper description (this is called notional input VAT)
What SARS excludes, no matter how good your invoice is
Some expenses are blocked from VAT claims entirely, even with a perfect tax invoice:
- Entertainment expenses (client meals, functions, gifts)
- Motor cars (passenger vehicles, though bakkies and commercial vehicles used solely for business often qualify)
- Membership fees for recreational clubs
- Anything tied to exempt supplies rather than taxable ones
If you're mixing personal and business use on any of these, only the business portion is even a candidate, and the entertainment and motor car exclusions apply regardless.
The invoice rules that trip people up
This is where most claims fall apart. SARS is strict about what counts as a valid tax invoice, and the threshold depends on the transaction size:
- Over R5,000: you need a full tax invoice with the supplier's name, address, VAT number, invoice number, a clear description of what was supplied, and the VAT amount shown separately.
- R50 to R5,000: an abridged tax invoice is fine. It can leave out the recipient's name, address, and VAT number.
- R50 or less: no formal tax invoice is required, but you still need a till slip or docket showing VAT was charged if you want to claim the input tax.
A quote, pro forma invoice, or statement is not a valid tax invoice, no matter how detailed it looks. If you paid against a pro forma, you still need to get the actual tax invoice once the goods or services are delivered.
Vague line items are also a problem. "Services rendered" gets flagged in an audit. SARS wants a description specific enough to identify exactly what was bought.
This is the part that's genuinely hard to manage by hand, particularly when a business is running through dozens of card slips a month across several employees. Keeping every slip legible, dated, and matched to the right expense category is what actually determines whether a claim survives an audit. Tools like SlipZapper exist specifically to close that gap, by capturing slips as they happen instead of trying to reconstruct a shoebox of paper at year end.
How to submit the claim
Input VAT is claimed through your VAT201 return, filed on SARS eFiling for your VAT period (usually bi-monthly). On the return, you'll declare your output VAT, your input VAT, and the net amount, which is either payable to SARS or refundable to you.
Returns are due by the 25th of the month after your VAT period ends. If you file electronically, you get until the last business day of that month. Miss the deadline and SARS charges a 10% penalty on the outstanding amount, plus interest.
If you're due a refund, SARS is required to pay out within 21 business days of receiving a correctly completed return, though verification can extend that if anything looks inconsistent.
Common mistakes worth avoiding
- Claiming VAT on entertainment or a passenger vehicle, assuming a valid invoice makes it claimable
- Mixing standard-rated, zero-rated, and exempt supplies together on the return
- Losing or damaging slips before they're captured, especially card slips that fade within weeks
- Treating a pro forma or quote as a tax invoice
- Missing the VAT number check on invoices over R5,000, where a single wrong digit invalidates the whole document
Most of these come down to process rather than tax knowledge. The businesses that recover the most VAT aren't the ones with the cleverest accountants. They're the ones with the tightest habits around capturing and filing every slip the day it happens.
The bottom line
VAT claims reward discipline. Know what qualifies, get the invoice right the first time, and file before the deadline. With the registration thresholds shifting in 2026, it's also worth checking whether your business still needs to be VAT registered at all, since deregistering below R2.3 million removes both the compliance burden and the ability to claim input VAT.
If your slip filing system is a glovebox or a WhatsApp folder, that's usually where the real VAT gets lost, not in the tax rules themselves.
Stop losing VAT to lost slips. SlipZapper captures every card slip the moment it happens, so nothing fades, goes missing, or turns into a shoebox at year end. Start your 30-day free trial and see how much easier your next VAT201 could be.