This is probably going to be a silly question....oh well

When an individual is registered for VAT, does that mean that VAT is only calculated on business transactions? Or does every trip to the shop to buy milk entitle you to claim that VAT back?

I'm certainly not interested in claiming that VAT back (eish, to much paper work!), and that pretty much means you are always paying SARS what SARS is due, so it is really more of an academic question than anything else.