Written by Nicci
Updated 24 April 2025
COMPANY LETTERHEAD
Date
Employee's Full Name
Address
To Whom It May Concern,
Subject: Confirmation of foreign employment
This letter serves to confirm that____________________________(Name of employee) _______________________(ID number) is employed by __________________________(company name) in the capacity of__________________________(position).
He/she is contracted to work overseas in _______________ (country) from ______________dd/mm/yy to ________________dd/mm/yy. ...
Written by Nicci
Updated 16 April 2025
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.
Read more →
Written by Vee
Updated 10 April 2025
Medical expenses are nothing to sneeze at. Private medical treatment is increasingly pushing the limits of medical aid scheme
Read more →
Written by Elani
Posted 2 April 2025
Unfortunately, some of the SARS documents cannot be viewed online (i.e. from within your internet browser). You can work around this issue by downloading the SARS document to your computer. You will then be able to view the document when opening it directly on your device.
Steps to follow if the SARS document is blank on your browser:
Written by Alicia
Posted 18 December 2024
Many taxpayers find the process of filing a correction confusing. This often happens when they submit their tax return after the auto-assessment deadline or attempt to make corrections after SARS has already reviewed or audited their return. To make things clearer, we’ve compiled a list of common questions and answers to guide you through this challenge.
1. How long do I have to submit a correction?
Written by Alicia
Posted 22 November 2024
SARS Timelines
SARS operates within specific timelines to comply with the rules outlined in the Tax Administration Act and the commitments detailed in their service charter.
However, these timelines are not easily accessible on the SARS website, leaving many of our users needing to contact the helpdesk for updates on their submissions.
To assist you, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of these timelines:
Auto-Assessment<...
Written by Marc
Updated 4 August 2024
Taxpayers this year are facing a new gripe with SARS when it comes to receiving those well-earned refunds. The current two scenarios are:
In both these cases a refund should be paid out within 72 hours (if the taxpayer is due one), however thousands of taxpayers still have not been paid their refund. Here’s why!...
Written by Evan
Updated 4 August 2024
In 2024, we have noticed that SARS is withholding refunds from taxpayers with outstanding tax returns, sometimes dating back many years. In some cases, SARS is requesting unfiled returns from as far back as 10-15 years ago, going back to when the taxpayer first registered for a tax number.
Block on eFiling submissions older than 5 years
This year, SARS introduced a change to eFiling that has frustrated many taxpayers. Returns older than five years are now blocked from being submitted on individual profiles, prompting a message that these must be filed at a branch.
Don't worry - TaxTim can help...
Written by Evan
Updated 1 August 2024
Has SARS asked you for documents that you can't produce, such as an old IRP5 from a prior year that your employer doesn't have, or that simply doesn't exist?
To prove to SARS that you cannot produce the document they want, you will need to produce what is called a sworn affidavit.
This is basically a letter that you must write, that you then take to your nearest police station to get signed and stamped.
Items to include:
1. Your name, ID number and contact details...
Written by Marc
Updated 30 July 2024
Completion Letter
You will receive a Completion Letter if all goes well and SARS is happy with your documents. This means that SARS is not adjusting your Original Assessment and if you have a refund due, it should be paid out in 72 hours (provided you have no tax debt due or outstanding tax returns from prior years). Similarly, if you owe tax to SARS per your Original Assessment, the amount you owe will remain unchanged.
Written by Nicci
Updated 30 July 2024
This is a common area of concern for many taxpayers who don’t know why they are asked to submit documents to SARS after they file their tax return.
Read more →
Written by Evan
Updated 20 July 2024
SARS 2024 tax season dates:
15 July 2024 to 21 October 2024: individual (non-provisional) taxpayers
15 July 2024 to 20 January 2025: 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 2024.
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:
Read more →
Written by Marc
Updated 16 July 2024
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.
Read more →
Written by Vee
Updated 2 July 2024
Like in previous years, there have always been opening tax season niggles and 2024 has been no different. Patience is a virtue, so the adage goes.
Read more →
Written by Evan
Updated 27 June 2024
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...
Written by Nicci
Updated 27 June 2024
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...
Written by Alicia
Posted 25 April 2024
SARS has reported a rise in eFiling profile hijacking, involving various methods such as altering security details, creating, or modifying taxpayer profiles, and executing SIM swaps.
The hijackers’ objectives are to redirect tax refunds to fraudulent bank accounts, which they are setting up for this purpose. There are certain banks which appear to feature more frequently.
If you are the victim of such profile hacking, you must immediately report this fraud via the
Written by Marc
Updated 10 April 2024
SARS has recently issued a new guide with regards to updating your banking details with them. This was done in order to reduce the risk of refunds being paid into the wrong accounts and also to streamline the process, which has tended to be an onerous one in the past.
Change of bank details can be done:
Written by Marc
Updated 21 November 2023
When a Tax Return is filed usually SARS issues an immediate assessment (ITA34), however sometimes they do need to do a further manual check on their side.
Read more →
Written by Elani
Updated 15 November 2023
It is important to note that verifications and audits are two different processes. In a simple explanation, verification is the "straightforward" process to confirm if the information you declared on your tax return is true and correct, whilst an audit is where the tax return is under deeper investigation which means they look at the finer details.
Supporting documents request
If SARS decides to review your tax return, they will notify you via a SARS let...
Written by Alicia
Updated 14 June 2023
Last year, we noticed that many taxpayers filed their tax returns before the tax season officially began (i.e July). However, doing so caused delays and problems with their tax refunds.
There are only three specific instances where you can file your tax return (ITR12) directly on eFiling before tax season starts:
Written by Vee
Updated 30 May 2023
You’ve been diligent with your tax obligations, you’ve paid your PAYE (employees tax) each month without fail, you’ve kept all the supporting documents for your deduction claims and you’ve carefully filled out your tax return, making sure you’ve put all the right amounts in all the right places, against all the right codes. (Pssst, if you used TaxTim to help you complete your tax return, you wouldn’t have had to worry about all the right places and codes because that’s all automated for you)...
Written by Alicia
Posted 27 October 2022
If you received another email from TaxTim requesting SARS supporting documents, but you already sent these to SARS more than 21 business days ago, one of these four scenarios might be the reason you are still waiting:
Scenario 1:
You submitted the documents directly on SARS eFiling yourself, but you did not inform TaxTim. In this case, our system needs to be updated to reflect that you already submitted your documents.
Please log into your TaxTim profi...
Written by Patrick
Posted 16 May 2022
According to SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter, some South Africans who came into money were eager to “display their wealth”, giving cause for SARS to look into the income of these individuals.
In many cases, SARS found that there was a major disconnect between the income that was being declared and the type of lifestyle that these individuals were leading, according to third-party data. These include social media platforms.
As we already know, people are often i...
Written by Evan
Posted 28 December 2021
SARS charges interest on late payments made toward provisional tax deadlines.
To calculate this late payment penalty, use the formula below:
Provisional tax amount x Loading...% x (days after deadline / 365)
Use the calculator below:
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