Farm tools

Know your farmBefore you commit

26 free farm tools on South African figures: Grain SA, SAFEX and the Land Bank. Pick one, type your own numbers.

Diesel refund

How much diesel refund can I claim?

1. Diesel bought and used, per activity

Litres from your logbook for the period you claim, as SARS lists own primary production in farming (Schedule No. 6, Note 6(h)). Only your own farming, or a contractor you hire on a dry basis (you supply the diesel).

Growing crops and harvesting and storing crops on the farming property; horticulture, pasturage and apiculture; baling of hay; the planting or tending of fruit trees.Not sure? Work out the litres a hectare in Diesel per hectare, then fill the two fields below.
litres
The breeding and caring for animals and reptiles; shearing or milking; the transport of livestock to a farming property for rearing; rounding up or herding; breeding fish in dams; hunting or trapping as part of farming; game farming, excluding leisure activities such as game viewing and lodging.
litres
Searching for ground water for farming; pumping water solely for farming on a farming property; supplying water to it; building or maintaining dams, tanks, troughs, channels, irrigation and drainage.
litres
Soil or water conservation; fire fighting; fences; firebreaks; sheds, pens, silos or silage pits; earthworks for farming on the farming property; flood management.
litres
Weed, pest or disease control; the storage of farming products; packing or preventing deterioration of farming products on a farming property.
litres
Your farming products to any place, and your farming requirements from any place to the farming property, in your own vehicles; a contractor on a dry basis to the market or first point of delivery, or from the supplier to the farm.
litres
Servicing and repairing farm vehicles or equipment at the place where farming is carried on; generating electricity or using other farm equipment for domestic purposes; locomotives carrying goods on the farming property.
litres
Optional, from Diesel per hectare.
Used while the crops litres are empty.
Bought but not for the uses above, for example: transport for reward (carriage of goods for others); diesel resold, bartered or donated; transport by a contractor on a wet basis (he supplies the diesel), and anything a contractor fuels himself; a buyer of your products carrying them from the farm in his vehicles; diesel used in a neighbouring country; leisure activities such as game viewing and lodging; any use not on the list of own primary production in farming. Left out of the refund; SARS asks for it on the VAT201.
litres

2. When you bought it: SARS's rate

Empty uses the window of today (4 Nov 2026 to 1 Dec 2026). The rate changes with the fuel levy; each window is one notice in the Government Gazette.
Empty uses 262.2 c/l: 37.2 c fuel levy plus 225.0 c RAF levy (notice R.8125, Government Gazette 55661).
Optional: eligible litres bought in another window, when your VAT period crosses a rate change.
At that notice's rate.

3. What SARS requires

Registered for the diesel refund
Only a VAT vendor registered for the diesel refund may claim (SE-DSL-02 3(a); Note 6(a)(vii)). From 18 September 2026 the diesel refund registration is separate from VAT, on eFiling, and existing users must register again: it is not automatic.
Logbooks kept
Keep a detailed logbook of all diesel purchases, storage and use: the date, the vehicle or machine filled and the qualifying activity it did (SE-DSL-02 3(a)(iv)). Without the logbook records SARS accepts no eligible litres (Note 6(h)(vi), since 1 April 2013).
Assumptions used
  • The rate for farming, forestry or mining on land in Schedule No. 6, Part 3, Note 6(b)(i) (rebate item 670.04), per notice: 1 Apr 2026 to 5 May 2026 262.2 c/l (R.7341, GG 54445); 6 May 2026 to 2 Jun 2026 225.0 c/l (R.7427, GG 54609); 3 Jun 2026 to 30 Jun 2026 303.8 c/l (R.7478, GG 54678); 1 Jul 2026 to 3 Nov 2026 382.2 c/l (R.7479, GG 54678); 4 Nov 2026 to 1 Dec 2026 262.2 c/l (R.8125, GG 55661). Read on sars.gov.za on 2026-11-04.
  • 100% of the eligible litres from 2026-04-01 (Notice R.7143; SARS news of 20 April 2026); before that 80%, which this tool does not work out.
  • The sum, as SARS gives it (Note 6(b)(i)(bb); policy SE-DSL-02, revision 21, effective 2026-04-20): litres purchased and used less non-eligible litres, times the rate. Across a rate change, the earlier litres times SARS's factor (previous rate over current, to 5 decimals).
  • What qualifies: Note 6(h)(ii)(cc)(B) of Schedule No. 6 as SARS publishes it (dated 2026-09-11). You must be both the buyer and the user of the diesel you claim for (SE-DSL-02 3(a)(v)); the tax invoices must be in your name (Note 6(q)(ii)). Claim within two years from the date of purchase, on the VAT201 (scheme page). Keep the invoices, the logbooks and how each claim was worked out for five years from the use or the return, whichever is last (Note 6(q)(i)).

The answer

Enter the litres you bought and used for each farming activity in the period (from your logbook); the refund follows.

Diesel per hectareAsk Africa EstateRead: What a Farm Costs to Run, and to Get the Crop to Market
How this works and the sources

What SARS refunds on the diesel you bought and used in your own farming: the litres per qualifying activity, as SARS lists own primary production in farming in Schedule No. 6, Note 6, less the litres for anything else, at the rate gazetted for farming on land for the days you bought the diesel. From 1 April 2026 all eligible litres count. When your VAT period crosses a rate change, enter the litres bought at the other rate and the tool gives SARS's factor and the litres for the VAT201.

What this does not tell you

  • This is not a tax opinion or SARS's decision. SARS verifies every claim; a claim is not an entitlement, and a refund paid wrongly is paid back with penalties and interest. Ask your tax practitioner about an activity you are not sure of.
  • Only farming on land. Forestry, mining, fishing vessels and the other users in Note 6 have their own rules and activity lists.
  • Diesel bought before 1 April 2026 (80% of the eligible litres at the rates of that time) is not worked out here. After the last window shown SARS had published no rate when the tool was checked; type the rate from SARS's new notice.
  • The litres are yours, from your logbook; the tool does not check them. Litres a hectare from Diesel per hectare are an estimate, never a substitute for the logbook.
  • Nothing you enter is uploaded or kept by us; the share link carries litres and rate windows only, never a name or a VAT number.

Sources

Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.