Guide/Invoices & Quotes

VAT on invoices (South Africa)

GarageManager handles South African VAT at the standard 15% rate. If your business is a registered VAT vendor, GM adds a VAT line to the invoices you issue and gets the numbers right for your SARS return. If you are not registered, invoices show net prices with no VAT — which is correct, and charging VAT when you are not registered is illegal.

Turn VAT on

  1. Go to Settings → Business & Billing.
  2. Under Tax (SARS VAT), switch on VAT-registered vendor and enter your 10-digit VAT number.
  3. Switch on Charge VAT 15% on invoices (PRO and ENTERPRISE).
  4. Save. New issued invoices now carry a VAT line.
Two separate switches. “VAT-registered” is a legal fact captured on every plan — it drives your Sage Pastel export codes. “Charge VAT on invoices” is the paid feature that actually adds the 15% line. You can be registered without charging on invoices yet, but not the other way around.

How it appears

  • VAT is calculated as 15% of the invoice subtotal and shown as its own line above the total.
  • Your VAT number prints on the invoice and PDF — a requirement for a valid tax invoice.
  • Job-card conversions apply VAT automatically when it is enabled, so converted invoices are consistent with direct ones.

For the registration toggle and what it means for exports, see VAT registration toggle and Sage Pastel CSV export.