Most business owners are leaving money on the table with their travel claims. And they don’t know it.
Either they’re claiming too much without the records to back it up — or too little because they’re not sure what’s actually allowed. Both approaches cost you money. One through penalties. The other through unnecessary tax.
Let’s fix that.
What SARS Actually Says
Business travel — visiting a client, attending a supplier meeting, travelling to a job site — is deductible. Personal travel — commuting from home to your regular place of work, school runs, personal errands — is not. Regardless of what vehicle you use.
The distinction sounds simple. In practice it’s where most businesses get into trouble — because the line blurs quickly when you’re using one vehicle for everything.
You can claim:
- Client visits and supplier meetings
- Travel to job sites or project locations
- Any trip with a clear business purpose, properly recorded in a logbook
You can’t claim:
- Commuting from home to your primary place of work
- School runs or personal errands
- Personal travel — regardless of which vehicle you use
The Real Question
Here’s what we see with our clients all the time:
A business owner drives around all week — client visits, supplier drop-offs, a job site in Midrand. They estimate roughly how far they drove and give that number to their accountant at year end.
No logbook. No dates. No destinations recorded. Just a rough number.
SARS audits the return. The travel claim gets disallowed — not because the trips didn’t happen, but because they can’t be proven. The additional tax, plus interest, often exceeds what the claim was worth in the first place.
We’ve also seen the opposite: an owner who never claimed a cent because they didn’t realise their vehicle costs were claimable. Two years of legitimate deductions, gone. Not because SARS took them — but because nobody asked.
What To Do About It
Keep a logbook — without exception
SARS does not accept estimates. A logbook must record, for every business trip: the date, the starting point, the destination, the purpose of the trip, and the kilometres travelled. Use an app if a paper logbook doesn’t work for you. Your vehicle’s opening and closing odometer readings for the tax year must also be recorded — this determines what percentage of your costs are deductible.
Choose your calculation method
The simplified rate per kilometre method uses the SARS-approved rate — R4.95 per kilometre for the 2027 tax year (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027). Multiply your business kilometres by the rate and claim the result. Simple and low risk. The actual cost method claims the real costs of running the vehicle proportioned to business use. More record-keeping required, but can produce a higher deduction if your actual costs exceed the SARS rate.
Claim your subsistence allowance
If your work takes you away from home overnight, SARS allows a subsistence allowance. For the 2027 tax year: R595 per day for meals and incidentals within South Africa, or R184 per day for incidentals only where your employer pays accommodation separately. Keep receipts where you can — not because SARS always asks, but because they support your claim if they do.
The Mindset Shift
Most business owners think the logbook is admin. Something to deal with later. They keep meaning to start one but never quite get around to it.
Flip it around.
The logbook is the claim. Without it, there’s nothing to submit — regardless of how far you actually drove or how legitimate the trips were. The five seconds it takes to capture a trip is the only thing standing between a valid deduction and a disallowed one.
The money is there to be claimed. But only if you can prove it.
Keep It Simple
- Business travel is deductible. Personal travel is not. SARS watches this carefully.
- No logbook means no claim — use an app if a paper logbook doesn’t work for you
- The simplified rate is R4.95 per kilometre for the 2027 tax year
- Overnight business travel attracts a subsistence allowance of R595 per day — claim it
- If your travel claims haven’t been reviewed this year — they should be
The money is there. But SARS won’t hand it over without the records to back it up.
General information only — chat to your accountant about your specific situation.