What to do if your second ITA34 assessment says you now owe SARS money
By Marc Sevitz · Updated
For example:
First IT34A (before audit):
SARS says: "Your assessment has been concluded and reflects an amount refundable to you of R-16 636.10"
SARS owes you R16.6k as per your assessment. The minus sign means that according to their records you owe a negative amount i.e. SARS owes you.
Second IT34A (after audit):
SARS says: "Your assessment has been concluded and reflects an amount payable by you of R10 662.00."
You think "Oh no!", but ignore this and continue reading to the bottom...
SARS continues: "The current balance on your assessed account is R -5 974.10."
Now that SARS has completed the audit, they have made changes to how much you should be refunded and now agree to refund you only R5.9k.
This is pretty confusing, even for chartered accountants! The reason is because SARS performs a revised assessment as if they have already paid your refund, even if they have not actually done so.
The best way to get clarity and see the combined total (what is the net amount actually owed to you) is to request a new ITSA - a Statement of Account. This can be done by following the easy steps below on SARS eFiling, visiting your local SARS branch or calling the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 SARS (7277).
- Click on the RETURNS tab in the to menu of eFiling;
- Click SARS correspondence;
- Click Request Historic IT notices;
- Click Statement of account; and
- Select your date range.
Follow these steps and you’ll be able to view a summary of any tax amounts owing or refunded to you. The final amount will be the overall refund. Phew! Now go take the rest of the day off!
