Do your Tax with TaxTim and WIN R10,000  More info   T&C's apply

Latest Posts in TaxTim's Blog

Budget Prediction 2020: More dark days ahead?

  Written by Neo  


All eyes will be on Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, tomorrow when he delivers his budget speech on Wednesday, 26 February to the nation.

Read more →

Overview on Tax Free Savings versus Retirement Annuity

  Written by Neo  


By Rowan Burger from Momentum Investments

The benefits of saving your money are well known and encouraged by many financial institutions

Read more →

State of the Nation Address - SONA 2020

  Written by Neo  

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed South Africa for the fourth time on Thursday, 13 February 2020. The event commemorated the 30 year anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

Read more →

Expat Tax

  Written by Neo  


As of 1 March 2020, South Africans working abroad will have to comply with the amended laws on expat tax. Amendments to the Income Tax Act includes the exemption of taxes up to the first R1 million per annum.

Read more →

TaxTim in People Magazine: Money Talks

  Written by Neo  

 

Read more →

'Rejection of Revised ITR12' - but my return is already finalised!

  Written by Neo  


There seem to be many confused taxpayers who have received a letter from SARS titled ‘Rejection of Revised ITR12’ which goes on to say that their revised return cannot be finalised because their assessment has already been finalised.

Read more →

File by 4th of December to avoid penalties

  Written by Nicci  


The deadline for non-provisional taxpayers to file their tax return is just around the corner. Taxpayers have until 4th December to submit their return and avoid unwanted penalties and interest.

Read more →

Tax effects of your salary structure

  Written by Neo  


We often receive questions from taxpayers as to how to structure their salary most efficiently for tax purposes.  Unfortunately, the reality is that the days of employees gaining a tax advantage

Read more →

Pay your taxes by 4 December or face the consequences

  Written by Neo  


The deadline for 2019’s tax season is 4 December, just less than a month away, so it’s time to seriously focus on your tax returns. Last week, Tito Mboweni, the finance minister confirmed during his medium-term budget announcement

Read more →

My medical aid is paid by my former employer: How does this affect my tax?

  Written by Neo  


When you retire, your soon to be ‘ex-employer’ might offer to continue to pay your medical aid. If you are one of the fortunate few to receive such a benefit, read on for some things to look out for:

Read more →

Unemployed Periods

  Written by Neo  


A few years ago, SARS introduced a new section onto the Tax Return called “Unemployed Periods.” Taxpayers are required to complete this section by entering all the times within the tax year they were not working.

Read more →

Top Questions on Tax and Marriage

  Written by Neo  


We receive many questions from taxpayers about how to declare their income in the event that they are married in Community of Property (CoP).

Read more →

SARS terminates Tax Clearance Certificates from October 25th

  Written by Patrick  


From the 25th October 2019, the printed Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) will be substituted by the electronic Tax Compliance Status (TCS). This new digital version of the TCC allows for a more secure experience.

Read more →

TaxTim in Fairlady Magazine

  Written by Neo  

 

Read more →

Verification of Assessment - what now?

  Written by Marc  

When SARS has completed their audit, they send a letter called a Verfication of Asssment/Completion Letter. This has the following wording:

VERIFICATION OF ASSESSMENT

We refer to the verification of the assessment for the 20xx tax period. Please note that no adjustment has been made to this assessment. However, in terms of the Tax Administration Act the South African Revenue Service reserves the right to conduct further reviews in ...



Read more →

Top Questions on Provisional Tax

  Written by Neo  


With the first provisional return still fresh in the minds of taxpayers, we thought it would be a good time to highlight some questions that were asked to our Helpdesk last month.

Read more →

Return Status ‘Filed through Branch’ " What Does This Mean?

  Written by Neo  

We’ve recently received many questions from taxpayers asking us if we physically went into a SARS office to submit their returns manually.

Read more →

Making payments to SARS

  Written by Neo  


You have filed all your outstanding tax returns with SARS and when receiving your ITA34 assessment/ Statement of Account/ Penalty statement you notice that you owe SARS some tax. There are three main options available to you, if you want to make a payment to SARS.

Read more →

SONA 2019 - A Short Summary

  Written by Patrick  

On 20 June 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the sixth parliament, and for the first time in years, we witnessed an uninterrupted SONA. And that is not the only first. For the first time, the SONA cost almost R2m, a staggering 47% lower than the cost of SONA 2018 and the lowest in five years.

Read more →

SARS has done a ‘simulated calculation’ for me " what does this mean?

  Written by Neo  


You may have heard the recent announcement from SARS that certain taxpayers who earn less than R500 000 per year don’t need to submit a tax return. However, this only applies under very specific conditions so it is extremely important to understand these fully if you think you may be affected. You can read all about this rule here.

This year SARS are taking things one step further. They ...



Read more →

How to claim medical aid costs for a family member

  Written by Neo  


At TaxTim we receive many questions from taxpayers who pay medical aid for dependent family members and who want to know if they can claim for this in their tax return.

When paying medical aid contributions for a ‘financial dependent’ the medical scheme fees tax credit applies in respect of fees paid by the person to a medical scheme.  This means that the person who is paying the medical aid will receive the medical tax credits, and not the dependent/member of the medical aid. 

Who is a ‘dependent’?...



Read more →

Why is SARS requesting my supporting documents again?

  Written by Neo  


TaxTim is seeing cases where taxpayers who had already submitted their documents in early July to SARS are, around ten days to two weeks later, receiving a further two letters from SARS requesting documents again. The one letter is the generic letter with the long list of documents, which was originally issued, while the second, contains a more specific request relating to the taxpayer’s tax return. 

Read more →

What should I do if I have no assessment from SARS after having filed a return?

  Written by Marc  

Usually SARS issued an immediate assessment, however sometimes they do need to do a further manual check on their side. Often the reason for this is one of the following:

  • They are missing an IRP5/IT3a due to you having transferred a lumpsum between any retirement funds. For example if you changed jobs during the year or withdrew your lumpsum from a Pension/Provident or Retirement Annuity Fund then you should have been issued an IRP5/IT3a;

    Read more →

    Top questions on Commission Earners

      Written by Neo  


    Our helpdesk receives hundreds of questions from commission earners about how their tax is calculated. Many are also confused about which expenses they can claim.  Hopefully our FAQ will help other taxpayers who might be puzzling over the same issues.

    1. I have a salary and earn a small commission; can I claim for my travel to and from work every day? (The commission is based on the sales that my team makes telephonically per month).

    Should the commiss...



    Read more →

    Clarifying the tax return threshold set by SARS

      Written by Neo  


    You may have seen the latest announcement by the SARS commissioner to increase the qualifying threshold for certain taxpayers to submit a tax return from R350 000 to R500 000.

    However as with all previous years, this only applies to certain taxpayers and so it is very important to check if you are one of these.

    The threshold applies to you only if you meet ALL of the criteria below:

    • You have worked for a full 12 months for ONE employer only and received an IRP5;...


    Read more →
    Older posts →← Newer posts    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14

Do your Tax Return in 20 minutes or less!

TaxTim will help you:

 Do Your Tax Return Easily
 Avoid penalties
 Maximise your refund

Tim uses your answers to complete your income tax return instantly and professionally, with everything filled in in the right place.

Let Tim submit your tax return direct to SARS in just a few clicks!

Get started

Blog Categories


Ask TaxTim

Got a question you want answered about tax?

Visit our helpdesk

Get SARS Tax Deadlines in your Inbox
We'll tell you when you need to file, along with tax tips and updates.