How to get paid faster: invoicing for South African tradespeople

Most trades businesses don’t have a work problem. They have a “the job was finished three weeks ago and I’m still waiting” problem. The fix is mostly habit, plus knowing what the taxman does and doesn’t need on the page. This post covers both, in the order you’ll meet them.

Do you have to charge VAT?

Only if you’re a registered VAT vendor. Registration is compulsory when your taxable supplies in any consecutive 12-month period exceeded, or are likely to exceed, the threshold. SARS’s VAT registration page puts that at R2.3 million, and says you must apply within 21 business days of the date it is or will be exceeded. Voluntary registration is possible below that, once you’ve passed R120,000 in the past 12 months, subject to SARS’s conditions.

Two caveats worth knowing. The threshold used to be R1 million, and the increase to R2.3 million was announced in the 2026 Budget with effect from 1 April 2026. SARS says it is already applying the higher figure to new applications, but its Budget FAQ notes the legislation had not yet been promulgated when we checked. If you’re anywhere near the line, ask your accountant rather than relying on a blog post, including this one.

If you’re not registered, don’t charge VAT and don’t show a VAT number. If you are, you charge 15% and every invoice you issue is a tax invoice.

What a valid invoice needs

If you’re not a VAT vendor, the law doesn’t dictate a format, but customers, their bookkeepers and your own accountant all expect the same basics: your business name and contact details, the customer’s name, a unique number, the date, a description of the work, and the amount. Add your bank details and a payment reference (more on that below).

If you are a vendor, SARS’s tax invoice rules apply:

• More than R5,000: a full tax invoice. The words “Tax Invoice”, “VAT Invoice” or “Invoice”; your name, address and VAT number; the customer’s name and address, plus their VAT number if they’re a vendor; a serial number and date; a proper description and the quantity; and the price, the VAT charged and the total.
• R5,000 or less: an abridged tax invoice is allowed. It drops the customer’s details and the quantity, but keeps your name, address and VAT number, the serial number and date, a description, and the price and VAT.
• R50 or less: no tax invoice is required.

SARS’s own quick reference guide has a side-by-side table of the two. You may show the amounts three ways: price, VAT and total as separate lines; the total plus the VAT rate; or the total plus the VAT amount. Whichever you choose, be consistent.

Two more rules that trip people up. You must issue the tax invoice within 21 days of the supply. And keep a copy: your customer (if they’re a vendor) can’t claim the VAT back without a valid one, so a sloppy invoice can cost them money, which makes them slow to pay you.

Habits that actually speed up payment

1. Invoice before you leave the driveway. An invoice sent the same day, while the customer is still happy and the work is fresh, gets paid sooner than one sent at month end. Most late payment is simply “I haven’t got the invoice yet”.

2. Take a deposit on bigger jobs. For anything with materials you pay for up front, ask for a deposit, often half, before you order. It filters out tyre-kickers, covers your stock, and gets the customer used to paying you. Put it on the quote so there’s no argument later, and record it against the invoice when it lands so the balance due is right.

3. State the terms on the invoice itself. “Due within 7 days” or “Due on completion” beats silence. Put a due date on the document, not just in a message. Residential customers usually pay on completion; commercial customers may have 30-day cycles, so agree that before the job.

4. Make the EFT reference impossible to get wrong. Put your bank, account type, account number and branch code on every invoice, and tell the customer exactly what reference to use: the invoice number. That one line saves you from “who paid R4,200 on Tuesday?” and lets you match payments in seconds. It also makes EFT the path of least resistance, which matters because card fees add up (we worked through the numbers in what a plumber’s software actually costs).

5. Send one gentle reminder, on a schedule. Chasing is easier when it’s mechanical, not personal. A cadence that works for most small businesses:

• The day before the due date: a friendly “just a heads-up, the invoice is due tomorrow”.
• Two or three days after: “Hi, just checking the EFT for invoice 1042 went through? Here’s the PDF again.”
• A week after: a short, polite call or voice note. People answer their phone more readily than they answer a third message.
• After 30 days: a written final reminder stating the amount, the due date, and when you’ll take further steps. Then speak to your accountant or an attorney about next steps, such as a letter of demand.

Always re-attach the invoice. Nobody scrolls back through a WhatsApp thread to find it.

Where Boetbook helps (and where it doesn’t)

We built Boetbook around the “invoice from the driveway” habit, so here is exactly what it does, no more.

• A job’s quote converts to an invoice in one tap, with the line items and the next invoice number carried over. See From quote to invoice to paid.
• Share produces a PDF with your company details, your VAT or tax number if you’ve saved one in Settings, the due date and any notes. On a phone it opens the normal share sheet. A WhatsApp button opens the client’s own chat with the invoice number, amount due and how to pay already typed, and clients with an email address on file get a pre-written email draft.
• Save your bank details and PayShap number (and, if you have one, a Yoco, Payfast or SnapScan payment link) once under Settings → Get paid, and every invoice carries a How to pay box with “use reference: ”.
• If you’ve saved a VAT number, the document is titled Tax Invoice; otherwise it’s simply Invoice.
• A default tax rate in Settings prefills new documents; leave it at zero if you’re not a vendor.
• When money arrives, Mark paid records the full balance in one tap. Part payments, like a deposit, are recorded the same way with a description.

What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t send automatic reminders, take card payments itself, or submit anything to SARS. It is also not an accounting package. If you’re a VAT vendor and your accountant wants more on the page, check the PDF against the list above. The free plan includes a handful of invoices a month with unlimited quotes; the pricing page has the details.

If you’d rather start with a spreadsheet or a printed pad, our free quote and invoice template covers the SARS fields and does the VAT sums.

The short version

Register for VAT only when the law, or a good reason, says so. Put the right words and numbers on the page. Invoice the same day, take a deposit on big jobs, make the reference obvious, and chase on a schedule. None of that needs software, but it’s a lot easier with a tool that does the typing for you.