What to expect in 2018 after submitting your tax return to SARS

Posted 1 July 2018



As soon as tax season opens in July, many taxpayers rush to submit their ITR12 tax returns as early as possible, eagerly hoping for a nice refund. After the rush, when nothing happens, they often ask us what is happening to their refund? In most cases where an income tax refund is due to a taxpayer, SARS pays it out within one or two days...

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Individual Tax Rate Tables

Posted 18 June 2018

RATES OF TAX FOR INDIVIDUALS

2019 tax year (1 March 2018 - 28 February 2019) - see changes from last year

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How to calculate totals under source codes 3696 and 3699 for 2018

Posted 13 June 2018



Perhaps you just tried to submit your tax return and you instantly got an error relating to 3696 and 3699. As frustrating as it could be, don’t worry the error can be fixed. Maybe, you might have just simply left an amount out. Let’s have a look at what you should do, in order to crack these codes correctly – in that way making filing much more easier for you. 

You’ll need to check your IRP5 to make sure you answered TaxTim's questions for these amounts correctly...

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How to calculate totals under source codes 3696 and 3699 for 2017

Posted 12 June 2018



Perhaps you just tried to submit your tax return and you instantly got an error relating to 3696 and 3699. As frustrating as it could be, don’t worry the error can be fixed. Maybe, you might have just simply left an amount out. Let’s have a look at what you should do, in order to crack these codes correctly – in that way making filing much more easier for you.

You’ll need to check your IRP5 to make sure you answered TaxTim's questions for these amounts correctly. Your IRP5 can show one or more amounts with source codes describing the income you received from your employer that year. ...

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How Do Taxpayers Feel About The Proposed New Filing Deadline?

Posted 28 May 2018



On Monday 21st May, TaxTim conducted a simple survey of taxpayers who make use of the TaxTim services about their opinion on SARS’ proposal to shorten the tax filing season by 3 weeks.

An email was sent out containing the following:

“SARS recently published a Draft Notice of who needs to file a tax return and when tax returns will be due for the 2018 tax season. SARS are planning to move the submission deadline 3 weeks earlier to 31st October 2018 for all non-provisional taxpayers. ...

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What supporting documents do I need to submit to SARS?

Posted 28 May 2018



After submission of your tax return, when you receive your tax assessment (ITA34) from SARS, you need to scan down to the block “Compliance Information” to see if SARS requires anything further from you. You will see “Selected for audit or verification” with a Y or N (Yes or No) next to it. If you have a N, you can breathe a sigh of relief and consider yourself fortunate that SARS probably doesn’t require anything further from you for this tax year. If you have a Y in the block (and we are seeing this more and more frequently) it means that SARS wants to see evidence or back up which supports the amounts you entered on your tax return....

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The Less Common Tax Deductions

Posted 14 May 2018



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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I work for someone but do not receive an IRP5 " what must I do now?

Posted 14 May 2018



You may be employed by someone, but for one reason or another- you don't receive an IRP5 and no amount of begging of pleading will result in one being produced. If you're one of these “IRP5-less” individuals, this shouldn’t keep you from completing your tax return. 

Below are some situations where taxpayers will not receive an IRP5 - read on to find out if any of these apply to you and if so, what to do about it.

1. You work overseas for a foreign employer.

If you work overseas for a foreign employer and no tax is deducted from your salary in South Africa, you will not receive an IRP5...

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Be smart and save tax when receiving income from an Air BnB

Posted 14 May 2018



Taxpayers who earn Air BnB income often don’t know what they need to do when it comes to declaring this income to SARS. Sometimes taxpayers think that they don’t have to declare this extra income, or can hide it from SARS by not entering it on their tax return form - a big mistake!

The truth is that extra income earned from Air BnB income is taxable, and SARS needs to know about it. In some cases - if the amount earned (profit) outside of a salary is larger than R30,000 a...

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The 3 R's: Returns, Rebates and Refunds Explained

Posted 10 May 2018



When it comes to tax jargon, most people prefer to bury their heads in the sand instead of trying to understand all the confusing terms that tax practitioners use. Taxpayers just want to do their tax quickly and easily, and if they’re due - receive some money back from SARS. A lot of confusion surrounds the process, but by understanding three simple terms you can make tax season a little bit easier.

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10 Tips to Pay Less Tax

Posted 25 April 2018

These tips are part of TaxTim's personalised recommendation tool called the Tax Health Score. Once you file your tax return with TaxTim, we analyze it and produce your own unique Tax Health Score which recommends how you can optimize deductions, pay less tax and maximize your potential refund in the future.

The tips below cover all possible recommendations and may not be applicable to your individual tax situation. The only way to know which ones apply to you is to use TaxTim to complete and submit your tax return....

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How to make a payment via eFiling

Posted 15 March 2018



There are two ways of making a payment to SARS. What's good is, whatever method you prefer, you can choose the one that's best suited for you. Of the two payment methods, one is via EFT and the other via your eFiling profile. For the rest of this blog we will show you steps to follow when making payments the electronic way, via eFiling.

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Budget Speech: VAT rises by 1%, predictions were correct!

Posted 21 February 2018

Taxpayers should breathe a sigh of relief as a much lower than expected R36bn in increased taxes was announced by the once-off Minister of Finance. The biggest news amongst the increases was the VAT rise of 1%. For the first time in 25 years, all South Africans will see most goods and services become a little bit more expensive thanks to the Value Added Tax rise. Although controversial, a VAT rise was much needed and will bring in almost R23...

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Where Do We Look to Plug the Shortfall?

Posted 19 February 2018



By now we are all aware that it is more than likely that SARS will miss its 2018 revenue collection target that it set a year ago by R51bn. The budget deficit (i.e. the gap between government expenditure and income) for the first eight months of the tax year from April to November 2017 widened to a record R195 billion as tax collections lagged due to a slowing economy, low business confidence and a possible slippage in compliance by taxpayers. Sadly, there’s no light at the end of the tunn...

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I've raised a dispute: Do I need to pay?

Posted 14 February 2018



Many disgruntled taxpayers are receiving SMS’s from SARS who threaten legal action if they don’t pay their outstanding tax debt.

However, these same taxpayers raised a dispute/lodged an objection because they didn’t agree with the SARS assessment and are still waiting for the dispute to be resolved.

This can take up to 60 working days and in many cases, even longer. In fact if the dispute was raised at the end of last year, SARS will take even longer because the period 15 December to 15 Janaury is excluded from the 60 day review period!...

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Latest SARS Guide: Tax treatment of retrenchment benefits

Posted 8 February 2018



In the past, taxpayers who received a severance payment benefitted from the favourable tax treatment applied to it. It didn’t matter if the retrenchment was ‘voluntary’ or ‘involuntary’ (i.e. forced). If it was their first such lump sum, R500,000 was exempt from tax and the balance was taxed according to special tax tables.

For the first time last year, SARS issued a guide on Tax Directives, which distinguished, between ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ retrenchments as follows:...

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Disposal of Small Business Assets

Posted 5 February 2018



If you have reached the age of 55 years, and are thinking of selling your small business, read on to find out more about the special capital gains exclusion of R1,800,000 which may apply to you.

Before getting into the detail, let’s first highlight the three different scenarios where this exclusion may apply:

1. You are selling your business, which you operate as a sole proprietor.
2. You are selling your share of a business, which you run through a partnership....

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Navigating around your Momentum tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 29 January 2018

Navigating around your Investec investment tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 25 January 2018

Navigating around your FNB tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 25 January 2018

Navigating around your Allan Gray tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 25 January 2018

How to make payment to SARS via EFT

Posted 23 January 2018



If you filed your tax return with SARS and they've responded with your ITA34 assessment and you unfortunately have outstanding payments which you need to make to SARS. We've put together a step-by-step guide  to help you navigate your way around the payment process. 

Follow these quick steps to get the payment details required to make your payment to SARS by EFT:

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Navigating around your Alexander Forbes investment tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 22 January 2018



1. Local dividend - subject to dividend withholding tax. You don't need to enter it in your tax return.
2. Local interest - source code 4201.
3. Distribution from a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) - source code 4238.
4. Withholding tax on local dividend - you don't need to enter it in your tax return (see note 1).

Navigating around your investment tax certificate (IT3b)

Posted 22 January 2018

If you hold investments with a bank or financial institution, there is important information on your IT3(b) tax certificate which needs to be included in your tax return.

This will ensure your taxable income is calculated accurately with the correct interest, foreign dividends and foreign tax credits included. 

Do you hold investments at any of the below institutions?


- Alexander Forbes...

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Renting out your home and the effect on capital gains tax

Posted 15 January 2018



Our Helpdesk receives lots of questions from home sellers who rented out their primary residence for some of the time that they owned it. For example, they may have lived in it for ten years, and then moved to a different city for a job and rented it out for two years, before selling it. Will this impact their capital gains tax? How do they reflect the details of their home sale correctly in their tax return, given that it was not their primary residence for the entire duration of ownership?
...

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