The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it will implement an "online traveller declaration system" that will go into effect on November 1, 2022. According to SARS, the new system will be applicable to all South Africans travelling abroad and says that it will simplify passenger movement at South African airports.
According to SARS, the system's goal is to collect travel information and in exchange, grant a traveller pass via email. It requires that all South Africans and residen...
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Step 1: Please log into your SARS eFiling profile
Step 2: Click on "Home" on the top menu
Step 3: Click on "SARS Registered Details" and then on "Maintain SARS Registered Details" on the l...
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South African expatriates who ignore their tax obligations will soon find themselves facing the wrath of the taxman in the upcoming tax season.
SARS has urged taxpayers including expats (South Africans residing outside the country) to urgently review their tax compliance status or stand the risk of facing major penalties or even jail time.
Originally, individuals were taxed according to a source-based tax system but from 1 March 2001 it has changed so that individuals will be ...
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Step 1:
Log into your SARS eFiling pofile.
Step 2:
Navigate to your Tax Return which was auto-assessed.
You can do this by clicking "Returns" (top menu), then "Returns History" (side menu), then "Personal Income Tax ITR12" , then select the the relevant ITR12.
You will see the
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Step 1:
If you have been auto-assessed by SARS, you may see the screen below when you log into SARS eFiling.
Please click on "View".
You may also see this screen:
Step 2:
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Too often, taxpayers rush when completing their tax return, and then they miss out on some expenses they are eligible to claim. Don’t overpay tax by overlooking these seven common tax breaks.
Contributions towards a Retirement Annuity
Your contributions towards retirement funds are deductible for tax up to a limit of 27,5% of the greater of your taxable income or remuneration (to a maximum of R350,000 per year). This limit applies to the total contributions you make to any Pension, Provident or Retirement Annuity (RA) fund during the year...
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From 1 July to 4 July, SARS aims to issue auto-assessments to taxpayers who are due a refund.
The rest will be issued in batches up to 24 July.
Timing is Everything
If you receive an auto-assessment, you will have just 40 working days to request a tax return on TaxTim (or eFiling), complete and submit it. If you take no action within the ...
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The 2022 filing season opens on 1 July. Tick tock. That’s just around the corner.
It is important to be aware that the season is shorter than prior years. This means that SARS are giving you less time to file your return.
Important Filing Deadlines
24 October 2022: non-provisional taxpayer (i.e. salaried employees)
23 January 2023: provisional taxpayer (i.e self-employed, rental earners, freelancers, etc)
Auto-Assess...
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SARS is warning that those who fail to submit their tax return on time, will face harsh penalties. The period of leeway which applied to 2021 has now passed.
SARS announced a change to their legislation in December 2021 whereby they would levy administrative penalties to taxpayers who missed the filing deadline for one or more tax returns. Prior to this change, taxpayers only paid penalties when two or more returns were outstanding.
As a...
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TaxTim and SARS use all the financial information you provide to work out the most accurate estimate of your potential refund (or tax liability) for the current tax season. However, there may be some information we don’t have access to that won’t be included in the estimate of your tax refund or tax liability.
Information from previous tax seasons
Just like the SARS eFiling tax calculator, TaxTim doesn’t take into account provisional tax ...
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The cement is all used up and the bricks have been laid exactly where they need to be. A huge sigh of relief because… finally, construction and renovations are complete! And, just when you thought the worry was over, you realise that the differences between the building allowance and renovations aren’t clear to you. “Aren’t they all the same?” is the question lingering in your head. Don't fret, below is a breakdown of the exact clarity you’re looking for. ...
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As a nation, South Africa does rather poorly on the savings front. With the majority living near or below the breadline, there’s not much to save when you’re more concerned with just getting through the month. Our high levels of consumer-debt, combined with little in the way of personal savings, means we become financial burdens on the government in the long-run...
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When pursuing a business activity, trade or renting out a property, you’re no doubt doing so to make some money, but the reality for self-starters
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Our Helpdesk receives lots of questions from home sellers who rented out their primary residence for some of the
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We’re aware that sometimes taxpayers may not understand all of the deductions which appear on the tax return. And because of this, expenses that could have been deducted get missed. To help make things easier for you, we’ve explained some of these less understood tax deductions which may be overlooked by taxpayers. They all appear in the Other Deductions section of the ITR12.
The s11(nA) and s11(nB)
If an employee is in breach of an agreement with their employer, they may be asked to pay back a benefit they received from them e.g bonus, maternity leave benefit, bursary, sign on bonus etc. ...
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Flexible employment is becoming increasingly popular, many taxpayers spend some (or all) of their time working from home. If certain conditions are met, taxpayers are allowed to claim a portion of their office running costs as a tax deduction on their tax return. However, please note that SARS usually flags these returns for audit. If you do work from home, take a read of our home office blog and also check out our handy decision tree to make 100% sure you are claiming this expense correctly.
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In order to complete the Medical section of your annual tax return, you will need a tax certificate from your medical scheme (if you contributed to a medical scheme that is!).
This certificate details exactly how much was paid to the medical aid for yourself and your dependents over the course of the tax year (1 March to end Feb). It also details how much money you paid for other medical expenses, such as medicines and doctors expenses, which you claimed for, but your medical aid did NOT cover...
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You may be employed by someone, but for one reason or another- you don't receive an IRP5 and no amount of begging or pleading
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Surely most of us love to travel, but traveling for business purposes is no fun when it comes to completing your tax return.
SARS has some rather onerous requirements, but as long as you know what you need, submitting your documents to SARS should be plain sailing.
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There are various types of taxes with their own special return forms and deadlines.
SARS recently announced the 2022 tax season dates:
01 July 2022 to 24 October 2022: individual (non-provisional) taxpayers
01 July 2022 to 23 January 2023: provisional taxpayers
If you earn less than R500 000 in a year, and fulfill a series of complicated criteria, you may not have to file a tax return in 2022.
However, we advise you to take GREAT CARE here, and understand your duties properly, because if you don't, you may suffer for it later on.
Here are the top 5 reasons why you should not skip filing your tax return this season:
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COMPANY LETTERHEAD
Date
Employee's Full Name
Address
To Whom It May Concern,
Subject: Permission to use personal items for work purposes
This letter serves to confirm that _______________________________(Name of employee), ___________________________(ID number) who is employed by our firm ___________________( company name) in the capacity of__________________________(Position) has permission to use the following personal items for work purposes:
Item: 1...
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IRP5 documents come in all sorts of formats. Luckily there are only a handful of companies that produce IRP5s, so most of them follow a similar format.
Click on the format that matches your IRP5 below and we will show you where to find all the amounts you need for your tax return.
OPTION 1: SARS format 
...
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COMPANY LETTERHEAD
Date
Employee's Full Name
Address
To Whom It May Concern,
Subject: Permission to work from home
This letter serves to confirm that _______________________________ (Name of employee), _____________________ (ID number) who is employed by our firm ___________________ (Company name) in the capacity of __________________________ (Position) has permission to work from h...
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The Public Servants Association (PSA) served SARS with a notice of strike action on Friday, 13 May 2022. The strike is due to take place on Wednesday, 25 May 2022.
The union is demanding a CPI plus 7% across the board, while the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) demands an increase of 11.5%. The unions and SARS hit a deadlock as SARS unashamedly made a final offer of a 0% increase.
If there is no resolution at the Com...
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