What Loans & Capital is for
Some money goes through your account without being something you earned or spent to trade. Borrowing is not a sale, and paying the capital back is not a cost. Money in and money out each have a Loans & Capital heading in their category list for this money, so it counts in your bank balances but stays out of your profit and your tax.
- Loan received — money lent to the business.
- Owner’s capital contribution — your own money put in. The personal money tick is the other way to record that; see below.
- Grant / funding received — the exception: a grant stays in your revenue. See Grants below.
- Sold a vehicle, machine or equipment — record the sale on the asset in your Asset Register with Sold or scrapped?, and Worklog writes this income for you. You can’t pick it by hand.
- Loan repayment (capital) — the part of an instalment that pays the loan down. The interest is a cost, under Interest paid on loan.
- Dividend paid to shareholders (companies) — for a company or close corporation paying its shareholders, including the Dividends Tax it pays SARS for them. A sole proprietor or partner taking money out uses the personal money tick instead: that is drawings.
Dividend received, under Other income, works the same way as a loan: kept out of revenue, with no VAT.
Log one
- Open Banking, tap + Add, and on the line tap 💰 In for money in or 💸 Out for money out.
- Type who, the Amount, and check the date. Leave the line as business money — personal money has no category.
- Tap More, then 🏷️ Set category, open Loans & Capital and pick the one that fits. Typing loan in the search box finds them too.
- If you are VAT registered, check the VAT — see below.
- Check the account along the top and tap ✅ Save all lines.
VAT
- Money in: a loan, your own capital or a dividend is not a sale, so the VAT question goes and the line shows No VAT — there is nothing to declare on your VAT201. None of them counts towards the VAT registration threshold either.
- A grant is not on that list, so the line still asks for its VAT treatment. Ask your accountant which one your grant needs.
- Money out: a loan repayment, a dividend or a donation buys nothing, so there is no VAT to claim — Worklog doesn't ask, and shows a note saying so. Interest carries no VAT either (VAT Act section 2(1) and section 12(a)): Money Out starts it on No VAT to claim and does not let a claim stand on it. Bank fees and charges are a category of their own and can carry VAT.
Split an instalment into capital and interest
An instalment is usually capital, which pays the loan down, and interest, which is a cost. Your statement shows one amount, so split it into two parts on one line.
- In Banking, tap Show ▾ and pick the account the instalment left under Account, then + Add. Capture bank lines opens on that account.
- Tap 💸 Out, then fill in the date, the description and the full Amount.
- Tap More, then ✂️ One payment, two things? Split it →, just above the personal-money button.
- Type the capital in the first part and pick Loan repayment (capital).
- In the second part pick Interest paid on loan, then tap + the rest to fill in what is left.
- If you are VAT registered, choose No VAT to claim under VAT to claim.
- When it says ✓ All R… accounted for, tap Done, then ✅ Save all at the foot of the screen.
The payment stays one line in Banking, like the one on your statement: the capital comes off 2500 Loans on your Balance Sheet and the interest goes to Finance costs on your Profit & Loss. Two separate money-out lines work too, but then you tick both against one statement line.
Where it shows in your books
- Profit & Loss: kept out of revenue and costs. Only the interest on a loan is a cost, under Finance costs.
- Balance Sheet: a loan is 2500 Loans — what you owed on day one (Opening Balances), plus loans received, less the capital you paid back. Your own capital is 3150 Capital introduced and dividends paid are 3250, both under equity. Check the loan against your lender’s statement.
- Tax Jar: loans, your own capital, dividends and loan repayments don’t change what it tells you to keep back.
- Cash Flow, your account balances and Banking: they count like any other money in or out, because the money really moved.
Your own money: the personal tick or Owner’s capital contribution?
Money in has two ways to record money you put in yourself: “👤 This is personal money, not business income” under More on the line, and the Owner’s capital contribution category. Both keep it out of your profit, tax and VAT, and both count in your account balance, Cash Flow and 3150 Capital introduced on your Balance Sheet. They differ in where else it shows.
- The personal money tick saves the entry with no category. Banking marks it Personal money, and Money Reports → Personal Money adds it up as money put in.
- Owner’s capital contribution is a category. It is not in the Personal Money report.
Worklog doesn’t choose between them for you. Ask your accountant which one they want you to use.
Grants
A grant stays in your revenue, under its own Grants & funding heading on the Profit & Loss, so it counts towards your profit. Its category says “check taxability”: some government grants are exempt from income tax, and an exempt grant also reduces what you may claim on whatever it paid for. Others are ordinary income. Which one yours is depends on the scheme it came from.
Worklog counts it as income on the Profit & Loss and takes nothing out for income tax. On Turnover Tax, Worklog leaves grants out of your taxable turnover.