Invoicing guide
Invoicing in South Africa
VAT — how it works, what an invoice needs, and where the numbers come from.
Data as of 2026-07-19. Sources: www.sars.gov.za (opens in new tab), www.sars.gov.za (opens in new tab), www.sars.gov.za (opens in new tab), www.sars.gov.za (opens in new tab).
This is general guidance, not tax advice — verify with your tax authority.
The tax regime
South Africa taxes most sales under a VAT system (regime type: vat). The document title Ochre prints is “Tax Invoice” once you're registered, or “Invoice” if you're not.
Tax registration number
The tax registration number for South Africa is labelled VAT registration number on an Ochre invoice.
Format: "4", then 9 digits.
Registration & thresholds
2,300,000 ZAR — Compulsory registration above R2,300,000 taxable turnover in any 12-month period (raised from R1,000,000 effective 1 April 2026 — the first change in 17 years). Voluntary registration from R120,000 (raised from R50,000). CURRENT figures as of 2026-07-19 — do not use the older R1M/R50k.
Rates
| Standard-rated (15%) | 15% |
|---|---|
| Zero-rated (0%) | 0% |
| Exempt | 0% |
| Out of scope | 0% |
Rates shown above are for Domestic supply; this pack also defines Export for cross-border or special-case supplies.
Price display
Ochre's default for South Africa is tax-exclusive pricing on a line item.
For consumer-facing (B2C) prices, the displayed price must include tax.
Rounding
Tax is rounded half up, applied once for the invoice total, to a precision of 0.01.
Mandatory invoice fields
- Document title (e.g. “Tax Invoice”)
- Seller's tax registration number
- Sequential invoice number
- Issue date
- Tax broken down by rate
Fiscal year & dates
The fiscal year starts March 1. Dates print in DD/MM/YYYY order.
Currency
ZAR (R), shown to 2 decimal places.
E-invoicing
No mandatory e-invoicing or real-time-reporting regime identified for South Africa — VAT remains a return-based system (VAT201). Treated as 'not found', not exhaustively confirmed absent.