2. The substance (meaning) of the interpretation of an advance is that it is an early payment of a reimbursement.
The only material difference between an advance and a reimbursement is that an advance is paid to the employee before the business expense is incurred, while a reimbursement is paid to the employee after the expense is incurred.
This means that even though the wording of the interpretation of an allowance and an advance is virtually identical, in substance (at the heart of it), an advance is actually an ‘early’ reimbursement.
It is easier to comment on the commonalities and differences between concepts when they are shown in a comparison table form such as the following one that compares the main characteristics of general allowances, advances, and reimbursements.
Key Aspects Allowance Advance Reimbursement
1 ‘Employer’s Control’ Grants Grants/Instructs Instructs
2 ‘Employers Expense’ Yes Yes Yes
3 ‘Value’ Realistic estimate Realistic estimate Actual
4 ‘Proof’ required No Yes Yes
Relating the insights gained from this table to travel allowances and travel reimbursements, and using the row numbers of the table to reference the comments below, it can be seen that –
1. The employer has control over whether, and how, the compensation is paid. However, along with the power of control, goes the responsibility to exercise that power in a fair and legally compliant manner.
2. The aspect that results in an answer of ‘Yes’ across all three columns of the table is that of the ‘Employer’s Expense’. This makes it absolutely clear that the business portion of travel allowances and the actual value of travel advances and travel reimbursements are the employer’s expense and must not be paid for by the employee (see also the package structuring discussion in chapter 6).
3. The employer must ensure that a realistic amount is estimated for a travel allowance – this is not an easy matter and will be discussed in more detail in the travel allowance chapter 4.
This also applies to the granting of an advance – the difference being that the advance must be ‘proved’ after the event at which stage it no longer has an estimated value but an ‘actual’ value – allowing any difference to be refunded by the employee to the employer or paid by the employer to the employee.
Reimbursements are only paid against proof, which is of course the actual value of the expense.
See the section later in this workbook for a discussion on whether the value of a travel allowance must include only the estimated business expenditure, or whether it can be legally increased to provide for a private travel amount portion as anticipated by the ‘inclusion percentages’ of the Fourth Schedule.
4. The interpretation states that proof of the kilometers travelled per business trip is not required for travel allowances. This is true according to the principle of allowances, but not quite true as far as one aspect of travel allowance administration is concerned.
Information is necessary to estimate a realistic estimate of the value a travel allowance. After that, proof of the actual travel is not required on a monthly basis until the value must be re-estimated in terms of the employer’s policy (it is a good practice to re-visit the travel allowance value at least once a year – or when the vehicle or job circumstances change).
The employee must maintain a logbook (discussed in a section below) and submit it to SARS when requested by SARS to do so. The logbook total and business kilometres travelled are used for the calculation of the allowable business travel expenses claim. This is also a form of ‘proof’.
Just for interest’s sake, note that the travel reimbursement is not a ‘true’ reimbursement because the amount that is reimbursed is not the actual cost of the kilometers travelled.
It is a deemed cost because the rate per kilometer that is used to calculate the reimbursement amount is either a deemed cost rate that is determined from the Cost Scale table supplied by SARS for this purpose, or the ‘Prescribed’ rate/km.
This is why this type of travel compensation is called a “Reimbursive Travel Allowance” by SARS – it is actually a hybrid between an allowance and a reimbursement but leans more towards being a reimbursement.
2.7 The Concept of ‘Private Travel’
The concept of ‘private travel’ lies at the heart of the rules that govern the taxation of travel compensation.
Under a variety of scenarios that arise in practice, both the employer and the employee must be able to differentiate correctly between private and business travel –
• The employer must check the travel claim from the employee and tax the compensation correctly, and
• The employee must record business kilometers correctly for reimbursement claims and for logbooks.
This puts the responsibility to understand the concept of private travel on both the employer and the employee.
Private Travel ‘Definitions’
The concept of ‘private travel’ is not defined in the Income Tax Act but is referred to in section 8 (that deals with travel allowances and travel reimbursements), and again in paragraph 7 of the Seventh Schedule (that deals with company cars).
Section 8(1)(b)(i) states that an employee’s private travel is any travel –

“… including travelling between his or her place of residence and his or her place of employment or business or any other travelling done for his private or domestic purposes …”.
[My emphasis added to highlight the differences between the two ‘definitions’]

The Seventh Schedule in paragraph 7(4) states that an employee’s private travel is any travel –

“… including travelling between the employee’s place of residence and his or her place of employment or any other travelling done for his or her private or domestic purposes, …”.

Comments on the Private Travel ‘Definitions’
The wording of the two ‘definitions’ differ, resulting in a potentially different meaning for private travel for travel allowances and travel reimbursements (section 8), compared to the meaning for the use of a company car (Seventh Schedule section 7(4)).
The “his or her” differences are not important, but the phrase ‘or business’ that was added to the legislation from the 2014 tax year, is only included in section 8 for travel allowances and travel reimbursements, is important.
Interpreted literally (as it was by a certain tax authority at the time), it means that the travel from a ‘place of residence’ to a client’s business premise:
1. Is private travel for travel allowances and travel reimbursements
2. Is not private travel for a company car.
This would have resulted in serious problems if this was the correct interpretation.
Fortunately, SARS intervened and issued an interpretation that states that the “place of ‘business’ applies to office holders; and place of ‘employment’ applies to employees“.
The SARS interpretation makes practical sense. Nothing changes conceptually – it is only that private travel for public office holders is now defined for travel allowances and travel reimbursements.
Finally, what is important is that the substance of the two ’definitions’ (the wording that specifies that the travel “between the employee’s place of residence and his place of employment …” is private travel), is common to travel allowances, travel reimbursements, and company cars.
As you can see, deciding whether the travel is ‘private’ or ‘business’ is not as easy as it sounds. Getting it right requires a good understanding of the concept and a healthy dose of good luck.
Change to ‘private travel’ for Judges
Of interest is the amendment that provides that when judges travel from their place of residence to the various courts over which they preside in a state-owned vehicle, that this travel is deemed to be business travel.
This amendment is interesting in two respects.
Firstly, as stated above the practice has for many years been that travel from an employee’s place of residence to a client (or a place of work or business), is treated as business travel. The court where the judge presides for the day is not his ‘usual’ place of employment but is the place where he deals with his ‘clients’ and is his place of work (or business). The amendment is therefore merely confirming that practice, and one wonders why the legislators have gone to the trouble to change the law in this respect.
Secondly, one wonders why the concession has been made for judges only and not for employees in general. To allow the new concession for judges only is patently unfair. There are many employees in all sectors of business who travel in principle under the same circumstances as do judges, and the concession should also apply to them.
In my opinion, the proposed concession supports the interpretation that where for example an employee whose duty it is to travel directly from home to the various branches of the company for branch visits, the travel is for business purposes.
2.8 Understanding ‘Private Travel’
At the heart of the two ‘definitions’ discussed above, is that ‘private travel’ is the travel –

“… between the employee’s place of residence and his place of employment …”.

If you can identify the employee’s place of residence and place of employment, then it is easy – any travel between these two places is private travel. If not, it is business travel.
This makes it sound easy – it isn’t. There are many ‘grey area’ scenarios where all you can do is to try your best.

WARNING
Please be aware that the guidance follows is my personal opinion and not that of SARS.
It is not infallible, but I find that it helps me to analise the problem, and hopefully come close to the correct answer.

Place of Residence
To help you to identify the place of residence correctly, I have split the many types of residence into two groups –
1. a ‘usual’ place of residence
2. a ‘temporary’ place of residence.
The ‘usual’ place of residence is –
• the employee’s regular home, or
• the place where the employee returns to “after all his wanderings”.
A ‘temporary’ place of residence would be a –
• hotel room
• guest house
• rented accommodation
• a friend’s home
• etc.,
that is used for business reasons for a ‘short’ period of time, and while the employee has a separate ‘usual’ place of residence.
The business reasons for using a ‘temporary’ place of residence include –
• a sales representative seeing customers in an area away from home
• a builder working on a building contract in an area away from home
• a visit from head office to a branch office or vice versa.
My opinion is that the first condition for classifying the travel as ‘private travel’ is potentially satisfied when the travel is from or to a usual place of residence’.
Any travel to or from a short-term temporary place of residence is potentially business travel.
See the table two pages down that summarises the travel options and the taxable/not taxable results.
Note that a ‘temporary’ place of residence must become the ‘usual’ place of residence:
1. In the absence of a ‘usual’ place of residence eg. if an employee sells his home and lives in a hotel for a few months while building or purchasing a new home
2. If the ‘temporary’ place of residence is occupied for longer than a ‘short’ period of time.
There is no guidance to help define whether a period of time is ‘short’ or ‘long’.
Perhaps one day is ‘short’, one month is ‘long’? You will have to decide ….
Place of Employment
The ‘place of employment’ is the second criteria that must be established when determining ‘private travel’. Again, to assist you to apply the concept correctly to a variety of scenarios, I have split the many types of places of employment into two groups –
1. a ‘usual’’ place of employment
2. a ‘temporary’ place of employment.
The ‘usual’ place of employment is –
• where the employee normally attends work, has a desk, reports for meetings, etc.
• the place where he is normally directly controlled and supervised from.
A ‘temporary’ place of employment would be –
• If the ‘usual’ place of employment is the head office, a branch office (or vice versa)
• If the ‘usual’ place of employment is an office of the building company, a building site
• In general, any place of work that is not the usual place of employment.
My opinion is that the second criteria for classifying the travel as ‘private travel’ is satisfied when the travel is to or from a usual place of employment.
Any travel to or from a temporary place of employment is potentially business travel.
Note that a ‘temporary’ place of employment must become the ‘usual’ place of employment if the employee is transferred (eg. to a branch office) and reports for work at premises that were previously the ‘temporary’ place of employment.
To further justify my interpretation that travel to or from a temporary place of employment is business travel, the use of the word employment in both ‘definitions’ of private travel instead of the word ‘work’ is significant. One can assume that in the minds of the legislators, the place of employment and the place of work are two different concepts.
As a generalisation, the ‘place of employment’ is a narrower concept than the ‘place of work’.
However, the SARS website and the SARS Logbook now state that:
“It is important to note that travel between your home and place of work cannot be claimed and is regarded as private travel.”
For example, for employees of a building company, the place of employment would be the head office or branch office of the building company, but the place of work could be at various building sites for periods of time during the course of their employment.
In this scenario, the place of work is not the same as the place of employment – it is the temporary place of employment.
Note that for the purposes of this discussion, the concepts of ‘temporary’ and ‘usual’ is very much a function of the length of time.
Where an employee of a building contractor is required to work from the building site on which office space is provided for the duration of contract (say for 6 months or more), then one must treat the building site as the usual place of employment (place of work).
‘Private Travel’ Guidance
My ‘Usual/Temporary’ guidance discussed in the section above, while not perfect, helps one to identify the facts of the scenario, resulting in better understand of the concept of ‘private travel’.
If one turned my opinion of a ‘place of residence’ and a ‘place of employment’ into an amendment to the law, then the two ‘definitions’ in the Income Tax Act could be changed to state that private travel is the travel –

“… between the employee’s (usual) place of residence and his (usual) place of employment …”.

Based on the above discussion, the following table analyses combinations of travel, both from and to, the ‘usual’ and ‘temporary’ types of ‘places of residence’ and ‘place of employment’, linked to my personal opinion of whether the travel in each scenario should be classified as ‘private’ or ‘business’ travel (or in-between …).
If you use this table, please keep two very important points in mind:
1. The travel in these scenarios is not travel in a personal environment (eg. weekend or holiday travel). The travel envisaged here is travel that takes place within an employment (or work) environment, as a result of employment requirements.
2. As discussed above, one must take the length of time into account when considering what is ‘usual’ and what is ‘temporary’. There is no guidance possible on how to differentiate between a ‘short’ period of time and a ‘long’ period of time.
Common sense tells me that one day is a ‘short’ period’ and that one month is probably a ‘long’ period. In-between is a grey area, and this is coupled to the huge variety of scenarios that I have received queries on during the years.
The application of ‘short’ and ‘long’ time periods for private travel varies from one scenario to the next.
After all that, you are warned! Here is the analysis table based on a strict interpretation of ‘temporary’ as always being just that and which is in favour of the employee … 
FROM/TO TO/FROM TYPE OF TRAVEL IF PAID FOR, THEN?
1 ‘Usual’ place of residence ‘Usual’ place of employment Private Taxable
2 ‘Usual’ place of residence ‘Temporary’ place of employment Business Not Taxable
3 ‘Usual’ place of residence ‘Temporary’ place of residence Business Not Taxable
4 ‘Temporary’ place of residence ‘Usual’ place of employment Business Not Taxable
5 ‘Temporary’ place of residence ‘Temporary’ place of employment Business Not Taxable
6 ‘Usual’ place of employment ‘Temporary’ place of employment Business Not Taxable
In conclusion, the above is only guidance.
It will not necessarily give you a conclusive and correct answer every time.
You will have to think carefully about the specific circumstances, and if you are uncertain and need a conclusive answer, then consider approaching SARS with the facts and request a BPR (Binding Private Ruling).
Special Scenarios
Private travel, but outside of normal working hours
The employee must travel from his ‘usual’ place of residence to his ‘usual’ place of employment but after normal working hours to attend to an emergency.
Unofficial advice in the past was to link this emergency travel to the ‘Standby’ vehicle nil value concession in the Seventh Schedule for company cars that classifies the use of a maintenance vehicle as business travel if the conditions for the zero rating of the fringe benefit are met (discussed in Chapter 3).
Applying the ‘standby’ vehicle principle to this scenario:
• If the ‘after hours’ travel to the workplace is regular and not as result of an emergency, this would certainly be an indication of ‘private’ travel, therefore taxable.
• If it happens on an irregular basis, or infrequently, it might be business travel.
There is no firm opinion or guidance on this one, so it would be best to follow the ‘no risk’ route, and tax the ‘after hours’ travel as private travel if it is paid for by the employer.
‘Home office’
In this scenario, the place of employment and the place of residence are the same physical place (eg. a director who runs his company from his home, or somebody on WFH (Work From Home) in these post-Covid days).
There can be no private travel in respect of travel from his ‘usual’ place of residence to his ‘usual’ place of employment because they are the same place. Obviously, travel for shopping, visits to friends, doctor’s visits, etc. is private travel.
Finally, two last thoughts before leaving the tricky subject of private travel.
1. Please note that these opinions are my own. I believe that they are reasonably accurate, fair to all parties and compliant with the intention of the legislation. Hopefully they will be of some help.
2. Because of the many different scenarios of travel by motor vehicle in the employment world, it is probably impossible to find a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. SARS will no doubt agree with this and recommend that the difficult scenarios are subjected to a ‘factual examination’.
2.9 Other Important Aspects of Business Travel Compensation
What is a motor vehicle?
The travel compensation legislation uses the term “motor vehicle”, interpreted by SARS as follows:

“A ‘motor vehicle’ is a road vehicle powered by a motor or engine, especially an internal-combustion engine. This would include a motorcycle.”

This interpretation includes a motorcycle (but not a boat …) and means that –
• A travel allowance can be granted in respect of a motorcycle,
• Travel reimbursements can be paid in respect of a motorcycle, and
• A motorcycle can be a company ‘motor vehicle’!
Then take note that while the overwhelming majority of travel compensation is paid in respect of business travel that takes place in either a privately owned or a company-owned motor vehicle, this is not always the case.
Public transport vehicles (buses, taxis, trains etc.) make up a third category of motor vehicle that is neither owned by the employee or by the employer. Travel compensation paid to employees who use public transport for business travel is dealt with under the chapter for travel allowances.
Section 7B Variable Remuneration
Income, including remuneration defined by the Fourth Schedule of the Income Tax Act, must be taxed on the earlier of the date of accrual (generally understood to be when there is ‘an unconditional entitlement to the money’), and the date of payment.
Due to significant administration problems experienced by employers and payrolls for many years particularly between the months of February and March, and after many requests from the PAGSA over the years prior to 2013, section 7B of the Income Tax Act was added to the Income Tax Act and introduced the concept of ‘variable remuneration’ from 1 March 2013 as the solution.
All of the remuneration types that are classified as ‘variable remuneration’ must now be taxed in the month in which they are paid, not the month in which they normally would have accrued.
Variable Remuneration Types
1. Overtime
2. Bonuses (annual, quarterly, performance, etc.)
3. Commission (commission is calculated based on a percentage, not on number of units produced)
4. Travel allowances (an allowance or advance paid in respect of business travel expenses)
5. Leave paid out (BCEA annual leave that is owing and paid on termination)
6. Reimbursive travel allowances (payment of kilometer-based business travel expenses)
7. Night shift allowances
8. Standby allowances
9. Employer-paid reimbursements (these must be ‘true’ reimbursements as specified in the IT Act) , and
10. An amount that is determined based on the employee’s work performance (from 1 March 2023).

Variable Remuneration is not applicable to deceased employees.

Kilometers that are reimbursed and that are travelled towards the end of February, accrue in February.
If the employee uses the company credit card for fuel in February (a travel allowance amount), it also accrues in February.
Being variable remuneration, both travel allowances and travel reimbursements are now taxed when they are paid (March in this scenario) thereby reducing the employer’s tax year end administration burden considerably.
In terms of the employee’s logbook, the kilometers that underly the travel allowance or travel reimbursement amount that is deemed to accrue in a month after the month in which the kilometers were travelled, the kilometers ‘move with the money’ and must be allocated in the employee’s logbook to the deemed month of accrual.
Outdated practice: Standardisation of Private kilometers
This is a good point to discuss a practice that some employers have applied from many years, apparently ‘approved’ by some SARS officials in earlier years, but I have only heard of it from the employers who were applying this practice, not from SARS.
Some employers record the distance from the employee’s home to the place of employment and use this as a ‘standard’ number of private travel kilometers for every working day.
Then if the employee travelled from home directly to a client’s business premises and from there to the workplace, the number of kilometers travelled in total was reduced by the number of ‘standard’ private travel kilometers and only the remaining kilometers were regarded as business travel kilometers.
This practice is nonsense – it is outdated, defies logic, and is unfair to the employee.
 
2.11 SARS ‘Cost Scale’ Table and Prescribed Rate
This section explains the principles of the SARS ‘Cost Scale’ table and the ‘Prescribed’ rate/km.
It is important to understand these principles before moving to Chapters 4 and 5 where the principles are taking a step forward by describing how to calculate and use the rates per km in practice for travel allowance estimates and travel reimbursement calculations.
Principles
As discussed above, the legislation requires any travel compensation paid or granted in respect of private travel to be taxed. However, before it can be taxed, the private travel portion of the compensation must have an income and a remuneration value for the respective tax calculations.
The Cost Scale table is not used for company car calculations. Company cars have their own special rules that must be used to calculate the fringe benefit value for the private use of the company car – discussed in Chapter 3.
For travel allowance and travel reimbursement calculations, SARS provide the ‘Cost Scale’ table from which a ‘Cost Scale’ rate/km for the car used for the business travel can be determined, as well as an alternative ‘Prescribed’ rate/km.
The employer can choose one of these two rates to use to estimate the value of a travel allowance, or to calculate the actual value of a travel reimbursement. Advice on ‘best practice’ is provided in Chapter 6.
In recent years, SARS adjust the “Cost Scale” table and the Prescribed rate regularly every year for inflation and issue them in a regulation to assist employers.
The latest regulation with the ‘Cost Scale’ table and the Prescribed rate for the 2023/24 tax year was issued on 3 March 2023 in Government Gazette No. 48162 with the following lengthy title:
‘Fixing of Rate per Kilometre in Respect of Motor Vehicles for the Purposes of Sections 8(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1962’.
In a process that will be explained in the travel allowances Chapter 4, the ‘Cost Scale’ table returns a determined (I prefer to use the term ‘Cost Scale’ – it is more precise) rate per kilometre for a motor vehicle based on its ‘Determined value’ that takes both capital and running costs into account.
The importance of the ‘Cost Scale’ table lies in the word ‘cost’. Cost reduces tax. Using the SARS Cost Scale table correctly results in a rate per kilometer that has a cost value that is acceptable to SARS.
The following is the SARS Cost Scale table and the Prescribed rate/km that are effective from 1 March 2023.
Table: SARS ‘Cost Scale’ Table for 2023/24 (effective from 1 March 2023)
Determined Value
of the Vehicle Fixed Cost Fuel Cost Maintenance Cost
(R pa) (c/km) (c/km)
0 – R100 000 R33 760 141,5 43,8
R100 001 – R200 000 R60 329 158,0 54,8
R200 001 – R300 000 R86 958 171,7 60,4
R300 001 – R400 000 R110 554 184,6 65,9
R400 001 – R500 000 R134 150 197,6 77,5
R500 001 – R600 000 R158 856 226,6 91,0
R600 001 – R700 000 R183 611 230,5 102,1
R700 001 – R800 000 R209 685 234,3 113,1
R800 001 and above R209 685 234,3 113,1
Prescribed Rate/km R4,64 / km
The ‘Cost Scale’ table is structured as follows –
1. The first column of the table specifies the brackets for the determined value of the vehicle and is used to position the vehicle on the correct line in the table (the concept and the application of the determined value for company cars and travel allowances will be discussed in Chapters 3 and 4).
2. The second column of the table contains a “fixed cost” value for the vehicle that provides for finance charges, insurance, depreciation, and licensing [NOTE: Change this on the slide]. The rand value of the fixed cost must be divided by the total kilometres (private plus business) that are expected to be travelled in the tax year ahead to give a ‘Fixed cost’ rate/km.
3. The third column of the table specifies the fuel cost as a rate per kilometer
4. The fourth column of the table specifies the maintenance costs as a rate per kilometer
5. The total ‘Cost Scale’ rate per kilometer is calculated by adding the above three rates together.
6. The ‘Cost Scale’ table is limited to a motor vehicle with determined value of R800 000. This means that motor vehicles with a determined value higher than R800 000, will have the same determined rate/km as a motor vehicle of R800 000.
The result is that those who can afford more expensive motor vehicles will not receive a bigger tax benefit than those who can’t.
Note the following regarding the ‘Prescribed’ rate per kilometer:
1. The 2023/24 Prescribed rate/km has been increased by 11,0% from R4,18 to R4,64 per kilometer.
2. The Prescribed rate/km includes the Fixed, Fuel, and Maintenance cost elements and represents a fair value for a car of ‘average’ determined value that travels an ‘average’ total number of kilometers per year
3. It is a safe (i.e., no risk to the employer) option that employers should seriously consider using when estimating travel allowance amounts and for the calculation of travel reimbursement claims.
4. Employers that prefer not to use the Prescribed rate per kilometer, must use the ‘Cost Scale’ table to determine a rate/km that is based on the determined value of the privately-owned vehicle that is used to the estimate a travel allowance amount, and for the calculation of a travel reimbursement.
5. On assessment, SARS use the same ‘Cost Scale’ table and the kilometers declared in the logbook to determine the ‘cost’ rate/km that will be used to calculate the value of the business travel deduction expense.
2.12 Logbook Requirements
The SARS Interpretation Note # 14, as well as the example of a Logbook for 2023/24 on the SARS website, indicate that a travel logbook must include the following information for each day’s business trip –
1. Date
2. Opening kilometers
3. Closing kilometers
4. Total business kilometers
5. Business travel kilometers From
6. Business travel kilometers To
7. Business travel details (where, reasons for visit, etc.).
This is an overload of information that on the face of some of the descriptions, doesn’t make much sense.
Fortunately, common sense intervened. The opening page of the logbook example contradicts the layout of the logbook form by stating that the following minimum information for business travel is sufficient for a daily logbook:
1. Date of travel
2. (Business) Kilometres travelled
3. Travel details (where, reason for the trip, etc.).
This is far more practical, and it makes sense to use this for a logbook. However, this is where the good news ends.
Reason for the Business Trip
According to SARS Interpretation Note # 14, the ‘reason for the trip’ (point 3 above) is a crucial element of the logbook. SARS states that it “… will not be in a position to fulfil its obligation under the law to test the validity of a travel claim where the “reason for trip” is recorded in a logbook as simply “meeting”, “client”, “business” or similar vague particulars”.
The information provided under “reason for trip” must be enough to allow SARS to verify that the travel was for business purposes and qualifies for a deduction. At the very least, this should include the following information:
1. Specific details of why the travel was undertaken, for example “presentation to board”, “meeting with supplier” or “delivery to client”.
2. Details of the person with or for whom the engagement was undertaken, for example, “head office of ABC Ltd”, “Mr A at LMN Supplies (Pty) Ltd” or “delivery to client Mr Z”.
3. If contact details are available these should also be provided.
SARS request that as much detail should be provided as possible to allow SARS to verify travel claims without requesting additional information to prevent travel claims being rejected because of insufficient information.
Spreadsheet Solution
As a suggestion for the employer, consider creating the logbook in an Excel spreadsheet. The daily logbook details can be captured per employee (or perhaps downloaded from one of the Logbook ‘apps’ that are available). This provides management with useful travel statistics during the year, and at the end of the year, the spreadsheet is the employee’s final logbook for SARS.
More on this suggestion when we get to travel reimbursements in Chapter 5.
The employee must somewhere else record the opening and closing kilometers for the tax year, giving the total (business plus private) kilometers travelled in the year. The total private kilometers travelled is the difference between the total kilometers and the total business kilometers recorded in the logbook.
The total kilometers (business plus private) travelled for the year can be used for the Cost Scale table ‘fixed cost’ rate per kilometer calculation as described earlier.
Note that the logbook must be kept for 5 years in case SARS asks for it.