How to invoice a car sale in South Africa — step by step

Whether you sell one used car a month from your driveway or fifty a month from a proper dealership, the invoice you hand over needs to do two jobs: keep SARS happy, and protect you and the buyer if anything goes wrong later. Here's exactly what to put on it.

This guide walks through every required field, the differences between a cash sale, a trade-in and a financed deal, where the voetstoots clause goes, and the small things SARS reviewers actually look for. It applies to South African motor vehicle dealers and private sellers issuing an invoice for the sale of a vehicle.

The SARS tax invoice fields you must include

Section 20 of the Value-Added Tax Act sets out what a full tax invoice must contain. For any motor vehicle sale above R5,000 (including VAT) where you're a VAT vendor, a full tax invoice is required — not the abridged version. The mandatory fields are:

1. The words “Tax Invoice”, “VAT Invoice” or “Invoice” — clearly displayed near the top of the document.
2. The supplier's name, address and VAT registration number — that's your dealership's details.
3. The recipient's name, address and VAT registration number — if the buyer is also a VAT vendor. For a private buyer, name and address are enough.
4. A serial number — invoices must be issued in a sequence with no gaps. AutoInvoice handles this automatically, but if you're writing them by hand or in a spreadsheet, keep a register.
5. The date of issue.
6. A description of the goods supplied — for a vehicle, this means Year, Make, Model, Variant and the vehicle's unique identifiers (VIN and Registration). A description like “Toyota” isn't enough.
7. The quantity — usually one, for a vehicle.
8. The amount, the VAT and the total — either shown as an inclusive total with the VAT separately stated, or shown as the excluding amount, the VAT amount and the total including. Both are acceptable.

That's the legal minimum. For a vehicle sale, you also want the practical extras described below.

Vehicle-specific fields that should appear on every car invoice

SARS doesn't prescribe these, but they exist on every well-run dealership invoice for a reason — future buyers, finance houses, insurers, the police clearance unit, and tax reviewers all use them.

• VIN / Engine number — the vehicle's unique chassis or engine identifier. Without this, the buyer cannot register the vehicle in their name.
• Registration number — the licence plate. Confirm it matches the licence disk before issuing.
• Year of manufacture, Make, Model and Variant / Specification — e.g. “2020 Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD-6 Raider 4x4 A/T”. The variant matters for valuation and is required by most finance houses.
• MM Code — the Mead & McGrouther code is South Africa's industry-standard vehicle identifier. Banks and insurers use it. Optional on a small private sale, recommended for dealer invoices.
• Mileage at sale — the odometer reading on the day of handover. Protects you against later disputes about “the car had more km than I was told”.
• Colour — useful for police clearance and for matching to the licence disk.

Putting these on the invoice once means you don't have to re-key them onto a separate sale agreement, vehicle delivery note or licence-disk renewal form.

Cash sale vs trade-in vs financed sale — invoice differences

The structure of the invoice changes a little depending on how the buyer is paying.

Cash sale

The simplest case. One line item, the full price, the VAT broken out, the total. Payment terms might say “Cash on delivery” or “Paid in full”.

Trade-in

You're selling one vehicle to the buyer and acquiring their old one as part of the deal. The cleanest treatment is two separate documents:

• An invoice from you to the buyer for the new vehicle at the full selling price (including VAT).
• A separate purchase document (or VAT264 form — see our VAT264 guide) from the buyer to you for the trade-in.

The settlement amount the buyer actually pays is then the difference between the two. Many dealers try to net the trade-in off on a single invoice. That can work, but it makes the VAT trail harder to audit and makes notional input VAT claims on the trade-in awkward later.

Financed sale

The bank or finance house pays you, not the buyer. The invoice still goes to the buyer (the owner), but the finance house will want a copy that shows their name and reference. Most finance houses also want the VIN, MM Code, registration and mileage all on the document — another reason to put them on every invoice as a default.

Where to put the voetstoots clause

If you're a private seller and the Consumer Protection Act doesn't apply to your transaction, you can rely on a voetstoots (“as is”) clause to limit your liability for defects. We have a full guide on voetstoots, but the short version: include the wording on the invoice and the sale agreement, and have the buyer initial it.

If you're a registered motor dealer selling to a consumer, the CPA mostly overrides voetstoots. The clause still goes on the invoice for clarity, but it doesn't do as much work as people think.

Common mistakes dealers make

• Re-using invoice numbers. Every invoice number must be unique and sequential. If you reissue a corrected invoice, give it a new number and reference the original.
• Leaving off the words “Tax Invoice”. Without it, SARS technically doesn't treat the document as a tax invoice.
• Inclusive total only, no VAT broken out. SARS requires VAT to be separately stated. The buyer needs this to claim input VAT.
• Missing VIN or registration. The buyer can't complete a change of ownership without these.
• Mileage not recorded. Opens you up to disputes.
• No payment terms. “Paid in full” on a cash invoice; the due date and method on anything else.

Issuing the invoice and what happens next

Once the invoice is signed and the money has cleared:

1. Hand the buyer a printed or digital copy — most South African dealers now send it as a PDF via WhatsApp. AutoInvoice does this with one tap.
2. Keep your own copy. SARS requires invoices to be retained for at least five years.
3. Update your sale register or DMS. The MM Code and VIN make this searchable later.
4. Complete the change of ownership at the licensing department (or pass the buyer the NCO and CRA forms to do so).
5. If you're VAT-registered, the invoice will pull through to your VAT return for that tax period.

The invoice is the document everything else — finance, registration, future re-sales, your books — flows from. Get it right once, and the rest of the paperwork pipeline becomes a lot smoother.

Got a specific situation we didn't cover? Email us — if it's a question multiple dealers are asking, we'll add it to the guide.