Fibre And Tax: Can I deduct it ?

Jacques du Rand 2020-09-05


Tax season.

Those two words put together are enough to strike fear into the hearts of most people, but especially people who work for themselves.

Small business owners and freelancers are usually tasked with filing their own tax returns, and while tax time can be a little bit intimidating, there’s no reason why it should be terrifying. If you’re having trouble with taxes, it can be a great help to appoint a professional tax practitioner for your business – they know what we’re doing even when you don’t.

Did you know that, as a freelancer, there are certain things that count as business expenses instead? Among other things, these are things like costs incurred during meetings with clients, things like your office rental – and often things like your monthly fibre costs.

We spoke to some professional tax practitioners in South Africa to find out more.

Interview Vevegan

"In order to make the deduction, the expenses must be incurred in the production of income provided those expenses are not assets in nature." says expert Vevegan James.

In the exact words of the Income Tax Act (58 of 1962), “
Expenditure and losses actually incurred in the production of the income provided such expenditure and losses are not of a capital nature.”

In layman’s terms, you can deduct it from your taxes if you’re using it to make money – and if it’s not a direct asset for you or your company. There are a few more conditions to which your tax deductibles will be subject: Again, you should ask your tax practitioner if you aren’t sure what is or isn’t, rather than take the risk of doing it yourself.

Yes, this means that your monthly fibre costs are tax deductible if you’re making use of the internet connection for your business.

Why Fibre for Business? *

There are plenty of good reasons why you should be choosing a fibre internet connection for your business, and the fact that it’s tax deductible isn’t the only one.

It Helps Businesses Expand: Fibre is a massive part of worldwide connectivity, and having access to a fibre connection can help your business to expand – it allows you to stay in touch with your existing customers, and it allows you to have the freedom to build new ones. Cyberspace is an entirely new market that remains untapped for many business: Fibre is the way to get there!

It’s Cheaper: Fibre internet is considerably cheaper than having to pay mobile internet by the GB – especially if we’re talking about business use that requires more connection time.

It’s Faster: Fibre internet is a lot faster than your average mobile internet connection too, and you’ll achieve better and more constant speeds when accessing the internet through fibre than you would with your mobile connection.

It’s Reliable: Reliability matters when you’re running a business, and you want to make sure that your internet connection is as reliable as possible – fibre offers you this, where other forms of internet like a mobile connection won’t.

Tax Links

SARS E-Filing Website

SARS Official Website