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.
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What is an auto-assessment?
This is an automatic assessment issued by SARS to certain taxpayers.
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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...
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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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SARS has given you just 40 working days to submit your tax return. If you received your auto-assessment at the beginning of July, your time to submit has already expired. Auto-assessments issued on 4 July 2022, expired on 30 August 2022. Count your work days carefully. SARS is applying this rule very strictly. If you do nothing, your auto-assessment will very soon become FINAL.
For more on auto-assessments and their deadlines, please read Read more →
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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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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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 tha...
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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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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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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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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...
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For months, SARS has been clear about its plan to clamp down on crypto investors. While many may be under the impression that crypto is going under the radar, SARS is firmly taking the position that it is not.
With luxury audits being the order of the day, SARS is continuously looking into those who live luxurious lifestyles, particular those who own luxury cars and crypto assets, without declaring their income to the revenue service.
In many cases, this income pertains to the...
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SARS have recently become a lot stricter with late filers and have changed their rules for administrative penalties. You can read more about these changes here. There used to be some leeway for taxpayers who missed the deadline, but sadly these days are certainly over.
If you received a notification of debt from...
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Once you’ve completed filing your tax return, it’s possible to find that instead of getting money back
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In 2020, about 2.2 million jobs were lost in South Africa and in 2021, that number is expected to double as a result of Covid-19. With that, we have found that there are many questions surrounding the subject of taxes and severance packages. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Basic Conditions of Employment Act states that your severance pay should include at least one week’s worth of remuneration for every full year of work. Your severance package may consist of your ...
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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.
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?”.
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If you’re an individual non-provisional taxpayer, make sure you file your tax return before or on the deadline of 2 December 2021.
SARS is warning that those who fail to submit on time, will face penalties. Legislation has changed and you will have to pay penalties in January 2022 if you have not submitted one or more of your returns. This means that if you file your 2021 return after the deadline, SARS will levy an admin penalty.
Before, you only paid penalties when two...
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Identity fraud happens when someone uses your personal information, such as your name and identity number, without your permission.
Criminals steal your identifying information from your home, car or wallet and even your rubbish bins and use your details to commit crime. Con artists can also get your personal and confidential information from the internet, social networking sites, emails, spoofed websites, Short Message Services (SMS) and unsolicited telephone calls.
It’...
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