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-Assessments: 40 days to submit a tax return

 SARS will once again ‘auto-assess’ a large number of taxpayers, using data that they have received from 3^rd parties, such as employers, financial institutions, medical schemes and retirement fund administrators. You should receive an SMS from SARS at the beginning of the tax season if you have been auto-assessed.

In the past, you had to ‘accept’ the auto-assessment, or ‘edit’ to reject it and file your tax return. This year, SARS have said that if you are in agreement with the auto-assessment, no action is required. If you are not in agreement with the assessment, you can access your tax return via TaxTim or eFiling, complete the return, and file it.

IMPORTANT NEWS: taxpayers will have just 40 business days from the assessment date to file a return if they are not in agreement with their auto-assessment. In prior years, they had until the end of the tax season to challenge the auto-assessment and submit a return. This means if you receive your auto-assessment on 1 July, you will only have until 26 August to check all the details  and submit your tax return.

Click here for further details on auto-assessments and reasons why we suggest you reject it and file your tax return yourself.

Penalties

 The 2022 tax season is not a time for procrastination. SARS have recently become a lot stricter with their penalties for late submissions. Click here to read the new rules on penalties for 2022. We strongly advise that you submit early in the season to avoid a last-minute panic and unwanted SARS penalties.