Visit /business/register-hybrid. Choose between passwordless or hybrid authentication, then provide your details.

Go to Add Income or click the green "Add Income" button on your dashboard.

Required Information:

• Source: Where the money came from (e.g., "Instagram collaboration", "YouTube ad revenue")
• Amount: How much you earned (before any deductions)
• Date Received: When you actually received the payment

Optional but Important:

• Withholding Tax: If your client deducted tax from your payment, enter that amount here. This reduces your year-end tax liability!

Tip: Record income as soon as you receive it to get accurate tax estimates throughout the year.

Business expenses reduce your taxable income! Go to Add Expense to record them.

Common Deductible Expenses for Freelancers:

• Equipment: Cameras, microphones, editing software
• Content Creation: Props, backgrounds, costumes
• Marketing: Advertising, promotional materials
• Professional Services: Graphic design, video editing
• Travel: Content-related travel expenses
• Home Office: Portion of rent/utilities if working from home

Your dashboard shows real-time tax estimates based on your recorded income and expenses:

Key Figures Explained:

• Total Income: All money you've earned this tax year
• Total Expenses: All business expenses you can deduct
• Taxable Income: Income minus expenses (what you pay tax on)
• Estimated Annual Tax: How much tax you'll likely owe for the year
• Withholding Tax Paid: Tax already deducted by clients
• Balance Due: Estimated additional tax you need to pay

South Africa uses a progressive tax system where different portions of your income are taxed at different rates. Here are the current tax brackets for the 2024/2025 tax year:

Tax Rebates (2024/2025)

All taxpayers receive rebates that reduce their final tax liability:

• Primary Rebate: R17,235 (all taxpayers under 65)
• Secondary Rebate: R9,444 (additional for ages 65-74)
• Tertiary Rebate: R3,145 (additional for ages 75+)

How Progressive Tax Works

Progressive tax means you don't pay the same rate on all your income. For example, if you earn R300,000:

• First R237,100 is taxed at 18%
• Amount from R237,101 to R300,000 (R62,900) is taxed at 26%
• Then the primary rebate of R17,235 is deducted

Your business type (as registered with CIPC) determines how your tax is calculated. This is important to understand!

Sole Proprietorships (Even When CIPC Registered)

Companies (Pty Ltd, CC)

Where to Set Your Business Type

1. Go to your Profile Settings
2. Scroll to the CIPC Business Registration section
3. If you're CIPC registered, select your Business Type from the dropdown
4. The system will automatically use the correct tax calculation method

Reference: TaxTim - Sole Proprietor vs Company Tax

As an freelancer/freelancer, you'll likely need to pay provisional tax - advance payments toward your annual tax bill.

Who Must Pay Provisional Tax:

• Anyone whose estimated annual tax liability exceeds R1,000
• No minimum income threshold applies - based purely on tax liability

Payment Dates:

• First Payment: 31 August (for income earned March-July)
• Second Payment: 28 February (for income earned August-February)

How Much to Pay:

Generally 50% of your estimated annual tax for each payment. Use your dashboard's "Estimated Annual Tax" figure as a guide.

The SARS individual tax year runs from 1 March of the previous calendar year to the end of February of the named tax year (e.g., the 2025 year is 1 Mar 2024 to 28/29 Feb 2025).

Business Tax Documents:

• Annual Income Statement: Summary of all income sources for the tax year
• Expense Summary: Categorized business expenses for tax deductions
• IT3(a): Certificate for medical scheme contributions (if applicable)

Key Tax Concepts:

• Provisional Tax: Advance tax payments for freelancers earning non-salary income
• Business Expenses: Deductible costs related to your freelance work
• Taxable Income: Total income minus allowable business expenses

Business Subscription Plans

BizBook offers flexible subscription options for freelancers and individuals:

Monthly Subscription

• Price: R50 per month
• Full Access: All features unlocked
• You Control When to Subscribe: Subscribe when you're ready, no automatic charges
• Cancel Anytime: No long-term commitments
• Secure Payment: PayFast secure payment system - trusted by thousands of South African businesses

What's Included

• Income and expense tracking
• Tax estimation and calculations
• Invoice generation and management
• Recurring invoices with automated generation and email sending
• Bulk import/export (CSV/Excel) for income, expenses, and invoices
• Bulk edit and delete operations
• Duplicate detection and management
• Client management
• Tax document generation (income statements, expense summaries)
• Document storage and organization
• SARS compliance tools

How to Start

1. Register for a business account
2. Click "Start Free Trial" on your dashboard
3. Enjoy 7 days of full access - no credit card needed
4. Subscribe for R50/month when ready to continue

All PDF documents generated by BizBook include hidden security metadata and cryptographic signatures to verify authenticity and detect tampering.

How It Works:

1. Automatic Security: Every PDF generated by BizBook (invoices, tax documents) automatically includes:
   • Hidden security metadata embedded in the document
   • Cryptographic signature using HMAC-SHA256
   • Document tracking information (type, ID, generation date)
2. Verification Process:
   • Visit the PDF Verification page (no login required)
   • Upload any PDF document
   • The system checks for security metadata and verifies the signature
   • Results show if the document was generated by BizBook and if it's been tampered with
3. What You'll See:
   • Valid Document: Shows document type, generation date, and confirms authenticity
   • Invalid/Tampered: Alerts if the document has been modified or wasn't generated by BizBook
   • No Metadata: Indicates the document wasn't generated by BizBook

Supported Document Types:

• Business Invoices
• Business Income Statements
• Business Expense Summaries
• Tax Documents

Why This Matters:

• Document Authenticity: Verify that documents are genuine BizBook-generated files
• Tamper Detection: Detect if documents have been altered after generation
• Legal Compliance: Provide proof of document origin for tax and legal purposes
• Trust & Security: Ensure the integrity of your financial documents

Access: The verification page is publicly accessible at http://bizbook.solcol.co.za/ - no login required.

Creating an Invoice:

1. Go to Invoices in the navigation menu
2. Click "Create Invoice" button
3. Select a client from your client database (or add a new client)
4. Fill in invoice details:
   • Invoice Title: Description of work performed
   • Issue Date: Date invoice is created
   • Due Date: Payment due date (defaults to 30 days)
   • Tax Rate: VAT rate (default 15%)
5. Add invoice items (description, quantity, unit price)
6. Choose whether to include banking details
7. Click "Create Invoice"

Invoice Actions:

• View: See full invoice details and download as PDF
• Edit: Modify draft invoices only
• Duplicate: Create a copy of an existing invoice to save time
• Send Email: Email invoice directly to client
• Mark as Sent: Change status from draft to sent
• Mark as Paid: Record payment received
• Delete: Remove draft invoices only
• Export: Export invoices to CSV/Excel for backup

Duplicating Invoices:

To save time when creating similar invoices:

1. Go to your invoices list
2. Click the actions dropdown (three dots) on the invoice you want to duplicate
3. Select "Duplicate Invoice"
4. The create invoice form will open with all fields pre-filled
5. Edit any details as needed and save

Recurring invoices allow you to automatically generate invoices on a schedule, perfect for regular clients with monthly retainers or subscription services.

Creating a Recurring Invoice Template:

1. Go to Invoices → "Recurring Invoices"
2. Click "Create Recurring Invoice Template"
3. Fill in template details:
   • Template Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "Monthly Retainer - Client ABC")
   • Client: Select the client for this recurring invoice
   • Invoice Title: Title that will appear on generated invoices
4. Set up scheduling:
   • How Often?: Choose from Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly
   • Which Day of the Month?: For monthly/quarterly/yearly, specify the day (1-31, or leave blank for last day)
   • Generation Time: Set the hour and minute when invoices should be generated (default: 10:00 AM)
   • Due Days: Number of days until payment is due (default: 30 days)
5. Add invoice items (these will be included in every generated invoice)
6. Configure additional settings:
   • Auto-Send: Enable to automatically email invoices when generated
   • Template Active: Check to enable automatic generation
7. Click "Create Template"

How Automatic Generation Works:

• The system checks every hour for templates that need to generate invoices
• Invoices are generated on the scheduled date at the specified time
• If auto-send is enabled, invoices are automatically emailed to clients
• Generated invoices appear in your regular invoice list
• Template tracks: next generation date, last generated date, and total generated count

Managing Templates:

• Edit Template: Modify template details, items, or schedule
• Generate Now: Manually generate an invoice from a template at any time
• Toggle Active: Pause or resume automatic generation
• Delete Template: Remove a template (does not delete generated invoices)

BizBook supports bulk operations to save time when managing many income entries, expenses, or invoices.

Bulk Import (CSV/Excel):

For Income:

1. Go to Incomes → "Import Incomes"
2. Prepare your file:
   • Use CSV or Excel (.xlsx) format
   • Include columns: Date, Amount, Description, Client (optional), Withholding Tax (optional)
   • See the import page for detailed column requirements and examples
3. Upload your file
4. Map your file columns to BizBook fields
5. Preview the data before importing
6. Review any potential duplicates detected by the system
7. Click "Import" to complete

For Expenses:

1. Go to Expenses → "Import Expenses"
2. Prepare your file with columns: Date, Amount, Description, Category (optional)
3. Follow the same import process as income

Bulk Export (CSV/Excel):

1. Go to the relevant section (Incomes, Expenses, or Invoices)
2. Click "Export" button
3. Choose format: CSV or Excel
4. Click "Export" to download

Use Cases for Export:

• Backup: Keep a copy of your data
• External Analysis: Analyze data in spreadsheet software
• Share with Accountant: Provide data to your tax practitioner
• Migration: Transfer data to another system

Bulk Delete:

1. Go to Incomes, Expenses, or Invoices
2. Check the boxes next to records you want to delete
3. Or use "Select All" to select all visible records
4. Click "Bulk Delete" button
5. Confirm the deletion

Duplicate Detection:

The system automatically detects potential duplicates when importing:

• Based on similar dates, amounts, and descriptions
• Review duplicates before importing
• You can also manually review duplicates:
  • Go to Incomes → "Review Duplicates" or
  • Go to Expenses → "Review Duplicates"
• Edit or delete duplicates as needed

For Freelancers:

1. Go to your dashboard and click "Tax Documents"
2. Select the tax year you need documents for
3. Download your Annual Income Statement
4. Download your Expense Summary by Category (supports business deductions)

Note: All generated documents are formatted for official submission and include proper SARS tax codes.

Common Error: "Error generating income statement: 'provisional_tax_required'"

This error occurs when the system cannot calculate provisional tax requirements due to incomplete data.

Quick Fix Steps:

1. Complete Your Profile: Go to Profile and ensure all fields are filled:
   • Date of birth (required for age-based tax calculations)
   • Tax number (if you have one)
   • Industry/profession
2. Add Income Data: Ensure you have at least one income entry for the tax year
3. Try Different Tax Year: If current year fails, try generating for the previous tax year
4. Check Data Quality: Verify all amounts are valid numbers without special characters

Still Having Issues?

Contact support via the Support link in the footer. Include:

• The specific tax year you're trying to generate
• Whether you've completed your profile
• How many income/expense entries you have