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South Africa

Expense management software for South African businesses

Keep the VAT, tax invoice and expense category together on every purchase. Smartbills helps your team prepare VAT returns with the records they need, while keeping non-deductible entertainment separate.

Cape Town below Table Mountain

Smartbills keeps each receipt, its VAT and its category together, zero-rated lines included.

VAT read from the receipt, entertainment set apart

Every line keeps the VAT it was charged, with the supplier's VAT number when the receipt shows it. Zero-rated lines carry nothing to claim, and entertainment, where input tax is denied, is set apart from claimable spend.

  • VAT kept per line, as charged
  • Zero-rated lines with nothing to claim
  • Entertainment set apart

Receipts that arrive on their own

Receipts that arrive by email are pulled from a connected Gmail, Outlook or Zoho mailbox, and merchants on the Smartbills network send the itemized receipt at checkout. The month doesn't end with a receipt hunt, and nobody photographs a crumpled receipt on the way home.

  • Emailed receipts and invoices pulled from the mailbox
  • Digital receipts from merchants on the network
  • Matched to the card or bank line when it clears

Posted to the books your accountant uses

Coded expenses post to Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or NetSuite with the receipt attached and the VAT in its own account, ready for your VAT201. If your accountant works in other software, expenses export to Excel or CSV.

Why teams switch

The tax is on the receipt, not the card statement.

Client lunches end up in our input tax, and SARS denies it.

Each line keeps its category. Entertainment is set apart before the return.

Purchases over R5,000 need a full tax invoice with our details, and we only have the till slip.

The tax invoice arrives from the mailbox and is attached to the expense.

We claim 15% of every grocery total, and half the lines are zero-rated.

VAT comes from each line of the receipt. Zero-rated items are counted as charged.

Before and after

What changes on a South African receipt.

SARS denies input tax on entertainment and wants a full tax invoice above R5,000. Card totals hide both.

Card statement and photos compared with With Smartbills
CapabilityCard statement and photosWith Smartbills
Entertainment input taxClaimed by mistakeSet apart
Purchases over R5,000A till slipThe full tax invoice
Zero-rated groceriesTaxed at 15% anywayCounted as charged
Getting receipts inPhotos at month endFrom the mailbox or the merchant

Integrations

Works with the tools you already use.

Your accounting software, bank feeds and card program, with data syncing in both directions.

See all integrations
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • Sage
  • FreshBooks
  • Wave
  • MYOB
  • Zoho Books
  • NetSuite
  • SAP
  • Oracle
  • Dynamics 365
  • Square
  • Shopify
  • Clover
  • Toast
  • Lightspeed
  • WooCommerce
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Adyen
  • Wise
  • Plaid
  • Chase
  • Bank of America
  • Wells Fargo
  • RBC
  • TD
  • BMO
  • Scotiabank
  • Desjardins
  • Brex
  • Ramp
  • Float
  • Mercury
  • Gusto
  • ADP
  • Deel
  • Rippling
  • Google Drive
  • Dropbox
  • OneDrive
  • Box
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Google Analytics
  • Snowflake
  • Looker
  • Databricks
  • Google Cloud
  • Metabase
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Notion
  • Zapier
  • Airtable
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What people ask us before they sign up.

15%. The increase proposed in 2025 was withdrawn. The rate has not changed. Basic foods such as brown bread, maize meal, rice, fresh fruit and vegetables are zero-rated.

No tax invoice is required for purchases under R50, though you should keep the till slip. From R50 to R5,000, an abridged tax invoice is enough. Above R5,000, you need a full tax invoice showing your name, address and VAT number.

No. Input tax on entertainment, including meals and hospitality for clients, is denied, with narrow exceptions for businesses that supply entertainment themselves. Motor car expenses are also generally denied. Smartbills keeps each purchase categorized so those lines are set apart.

Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and NetSuite, with two-way sync. If your accountant works in Sage Business Cloud or other software, coded expenses export to Excel or CSV.

Yes. You invite your accountant with their own access, and a firm that manages many clients sees them all from one login, entities included.

Your data is stored in Canada and we don't sell it. Access is limited to the people you invite.

Get started

Bring a month of South African receipts.

Connect a mailbox and a card. Entertainment is set apart from input tax, and purchases over R5,000 arrive with the full tax invoice.