Document format and locale facts for South Africa

Why these defaults?

The country code comes from ISO 3166. Unicode CLDR supplies presentation-oriented locale, currency, paper, date, language, calendar, numbering, and direction metadata. Defaults reduce setup time; they do not decide what a valid document must contain.

Recorded official or regional-official language tags: en, zu, xh, af, nso, tn, st, ts, ss, ve, nr.

Selected national claims reviewed

Document vocabulary and checks

South African full and abridged VAT tax-invoice thresholds and particulars, VAT-registration-number context, and the conditional five-year record-retention framework are reviewed. Formnivo does not register or verify a VAT vendor, determine which invoice tier applies, decide VAT registration or taxability, or submit a VAT return. Special supplies, imported services, credit/debit adjustments, sector rules and transaction-specific VAT treatment remain conditional professional-review scopes; no national fiscalisation mandate is asserted from the reviewed sources.

Evidence snapshot: 3 official sources · last reviewed 2026-07-19. This is scoped guidance, not a jurisdiction-wide compliance certification.

Tax labels: VAT. Business identifier labels: VAT Registration Number.

• Required when applicable: For a South African full VAT tax invoice, show an accepted invoice title, the supplier's name, address and VAT registration number, the recipient's name, address and VAT number when the recipient is a vendor, a serial number and issue date, an accurate supply description, quantity or volume, the value, VAT charged and total consideration. SARS distinguishes full, abridged and low-value evidence rules by consideration, so do not apply the full-invoice checklist blindly to every transaction.Evidence ZA_SARS_TAX_INVOICES · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Required when applicable: A VAT tax invoice uses the supplier's SARS VAT registration number. SARS allocates the VAT tax reference number after registration validation and provides a VAT vendor search for counterparties. Formnivo stores the number entered by the user and does not register or verify it.Evidence ZA_SARS_TAX_INVOICES, ZA_SARS_VAT_REGISTRATION · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: SARS generally requires tax records for five years, with the start point and possible extension depending on whether a return was filed, remained outstanding, or the record is connected with an audit, investigation, objection or appeal. Keep invoice evidence for the applicable period and do not treat five years as an unconditional destruction date.Evidence ZA_SARS_RECORD_KEEPING · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only

Identifier format guidance: See the relevant authority.