Tax Thread for Influencers/Freelancers - Managing Finances:

Open a separate bank account, where all your freelance/bus income gets paid to and where you pay business transactions from.

This not only makes accounting easier, but shows the monthly profit you're making.

1. Freelance income, especially when you're booked with an agent will normally have a 25% deduction and the 10-15% agency fee.

Be sure that you deduct the agency fee as an expense against your freelancing income, as well as the other business related expenses.

2. If you travel (by car) a lot for business, keep a logbook. There are many apps and websites that can do the tracking automatically, using the GPS on your phone.

When you have lots of motor vehicle expenses, the logbook will allow you to claim a % of that expense.

3. Set aside 10 - 20% of your non-PAYE income for provisional tax payments, or for the annual tax payment. The reason for this is that non-PAYE is not covered and many people spend all the income, leaving them panicking when they need to make a large tax payment.

4. The more business related expenses you have, the more you can claim against SARS, but do note that EXPENSES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN TAX.

Tax is always a % of an expense. See example in note 5