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How to use the Landlord Year-Pack calculator

The Landlord Year-Pack works out the tax on a rental property for the year: the rent you collected, minus the expenses SARS allows, taxed at your rate. Get the deductions right and the number is genuinely useful come tax season.

Updated 15 June 2026 · THL Property Group

SARS taxes the profit on a let property, not the rent. Profit is the rent you received minus the cost of earning it. The whole game is knowing which costs count, because landlords routinely miss deductions they are entitled to and quietly overpay.

What counts as a deduction

These are deductible against rental income under SARS rules:

• Bond interest, the interest portion of your repayment. Only the interest, never the capital part.
• Rates and taxes, and levies if it is sectional title.
• Insurance on the building itself, not your household contents.
• Estate agent or letting commission.
• Repairs and maintenance to the let area. Fixing what is there, not improving it.
• Advertising for tenants, and reasonable other running costs.

The bond is where the money hides. You deduct only the interest, and over a year that is a specific figure your bank can give you, often far larger than people guess. Improvements are a separate story: a new kitchen is capital, so it is not deductible here, but it lifts your base cost when you sell, which lowers your capital gains tax then.

How to use it

Enter the monthly rent and how many months it was actually let. A month standing empty is a month of no rent, so be honest about vacancy rather than entering twelve out of habit.

Then enter each expense, using the real figures from your statements and especially the bond interest. Set your taxable income last, because the rental profit is taxed on top of it at your marginal rate.

Reading your result

The calculator shows your gross rent, your total deductions, the profit, and the tax on that profit. If your costs ran higher than your rent, it shows a loss instead, and flags whether SARS might ring-fence it. Ring-fencing only bites for high earners, above the R1,878,600 top-bracket threshold, and it means a rental loss cannot be set against your salary that year.

A worked example

A flat let for eleven of twelve months at R12,000 brings in R132,000. Deduct R52,000 of bond interest, R21,600 levies, R13,200 agent commission, R11,000 rates, R7,000 repairs, R4,200 insurance and R1,500 advertising, and the deductions total R110,500. That leaves a profit of R21,500, and for an owner earning R500,000 the tax on it is R6,665. The R6,665 is the figure to set aside, and the summary is something you can file for your return.

What it does not do

It models an individual under 65 on the 2026/27 tables, one property at a time. It does not settle the ring-fencing question, which turns on your full position, and it does not handle a property held in a company or trust.

When you sell the place, the improvements you could not deduct here come back into play against the capital gain. Read Property CGT after the R3 million change for that side. Then open the Landlord Year-Pack and total up your year.

Money Cat is an information tool, not tax or legal advice. Deductible categories follow SARS guidance for the 2026/27 year. Confirm your return with a registered tax practitioner or SARS.