Quarantine. Self-isolation. Coronavirus. These are the buzzwords for 2020, and once it is all over, words we’ll probably never want to hear again. In light of Covid-19, TaxTim offers the safest way to handle your taxes - online.
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You’ve been diligent with your tax obligations. You’ve paid your PAYE each month without fail. You’ve kept all the supporting documents for your deduction claims. 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 that’s all automated for you!) You file your tax return, somewhat impressed with yourself and, by your calculations, you can look forward to a reasonable tax refund amount. Then you get your assessment notification.
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Getting a new business venture off the ground is an equally exciting and stressful time. You’re enthusiastic about getting your new product or service out into the market, but you face quite an administrative process to get it off the ground legally.
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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.
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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. 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. Hundreds of thousands of South Africans are filing their annual tax returns and everyday people ask us “when will I get my refund from SARS?”. We’ve recently received many questions from taxpayers asking us if we physically went into a SARS office to submit their returns manually. 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. 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. 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 ... 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. 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: 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, or information from prior years we don’t know about, that won’t be included in the estimate of your tax refund or tax liability. We receive many questions to our Helpdesk from taxpayers who are faced with the following scenario: They work for two employers during the year, perhaps even at the same time and earn income from both. Each employer deducts employee’s tax (PAYE) from the taxpayer’s salary every month and issue them with an IRP5 after year end. 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 7 working days (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. We are seeing many cases where taxpayers submit their documents to SARS, wait 21 working days (sometimes longer) only to receive a second letter on eFiling which requests the exact same documents again. The letter we are referring to here is the generic SARS document request which looks like the below: The South African Revenue Service (SARS) thanks you for submitting the revised income tax return for the 2018 tax period. After you have submitted your supporting documents to SARS, they have 21 working days to review them, assuming all sufficient documents have been received. Once their review is complete, you will either: Additional Documents Request If SARS still requires for documents from you, they will either send ... 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: When did this happen? ... We are starting to see some common trends whereby taxpayers’ expenses are disallowed because the documents submitted are falling short of SARS’s requirements. To avoid unnecessary frustration and time wasted in raising disputes, read on to see if any of these areas apply to you. Travel deduction In prior years, the submission of a logbook detailing your business mileage used to be sufficient to justify your travel claim. This year, SARS is re...
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I've never been audited before. Why now?
Posted 17 September 2019
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When Will SARS Pay My Tax Refund?
Posted 16 September 2019
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Return Status ‘Filed through Branch’ " What Does This Mean?
Posted 13 September 2019
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Why does SARS require manual intervention to finalise my return?
Posted 5 September 2019
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Making payments to SARS
Posted 5 September 2019
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SARS has done a ‘simulated calculation’ for me " what does this mean?
Posted 19 July 2019
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Why is SARS requesting my supporting documents again?
Posted 18 July 2019
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What should I do if I have no assessment from SARS after having filed a return?
Posted 11 July 2019
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How Long do I have to wait for my tax refund?
Posted 5 July 2019
Like in previous years, there have always been opening tax season niggles and 2019 has been no different. Patience is a virtue, so the adage goes. And when it comes to waiting for responses from most government departments, they can certainly put your skills of tolerance to the test. Our helpdesk is inundated with questions about how long SARS will take to react or respond to certain requests or submissions. The short answer is ‘typically, quite a while’. You can imagine that during their busy filing season there are hundreds of thousands of documents being processed and not all administration can be automated...
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Why refund/tax liability estimations may differ from the SARS calculator and final SARS ITA34 assessment
Posted 24 June 2019
Just like the SARS eFiling tax calculator, TaxTim doesn’t take into account provisional tax payments, unpaid penalties, carry-over amounts from previous years and assessed losses...
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5 Reasons you Still Need to File your Tax Return in 2019
Posted 4 June 2019
SARS has just announced that 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 for 2019.
Previously, SARS had communicated that if you earn less than R350 000 in a year you may not have to file a tax return.
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 not to skip filing your tax return this season:
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Multiple Employers, Multiple PAYE payments. Yet I still owe SARS?
Posted 27 February 2019
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What does a Completion Letter from SARS mean?
Posted 27 November 2018
An example of a...
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I submitted all my documents to SARS ' They've asked again. Why?
Posted 26 November 2018
The revised information still does not match the information in the possession of the SARS and/or the income tax return has been identified for verification in terms of the Tax Administration Act....
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I have received an Additional Assessment from SARS - what does this mean?
Posted 23 October 2018
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How to Change/Verify Your Bank Details at SARS
Posted 22 October 2018
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File by 31 October or face heavy fines and potential legal action!
Posted 11 October 2018
With the tax season shortened this year by 3 weeks, the deadline to file by 31 October is just around the corner. SARS announced that it will be clamping down on taxpayers who miss the deadline to submit their tax return. Besides stating that they will impose monthly fines for late tax returns, they have even gone so far as threatening criminal prosecution and time behind bars for unpaid tax debt, just as many of us have witnessed with the recent celebrity headlines....
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Why is SARS asking me for outstanding tax returns?
Posted 9 October 2018
Previously, assuming that SARS did not request any documents for verification and everything for the year was accepted, refunds due were typically paid out quite quickly to taxpayers within 1-2 days.
From 2015, SARS has implemented a new requirement that ALL tax returns, since the first year a taxpayer registered for a tax reference number, must be submitted before any refund is paid out.
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After all my documents submissions to SARS, they disallowed my expenses, why?
Posted 4 October 2018
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