What is an auto-assessment?

This is an automatic assessment issued by SARS to certain taxpayers. SARS will use data collected from employers, financial institutions, medical schemes, retirement annuity fund administrators and other 3rd party data providers to generate the assessment automatically, without any input from the taxpayer.

 How will I know if I have been auto-assessed?

You should receive a SMS or email from SARS informing you that you have been selected for auto-assessment. SARS have indicated that they will send these notifications from 1 July to 14 July 2024.

Is the deadline for auto-assessments the same as the tax season?

For the 2024 tax season, the deadline is the same as the tax season for salaried employees i.e the deadline for auto-assessed taxpayers is 21 October 2024.

Should I accept the auto-assessment?

No, we think there are risks involved. Your auto-assessment may be inaccurate and accepting it, could result in you paying more tax than necessary.
 
"Why is this the case?"

SARS may not have received all of your tax certificates
SARS may not have your most up-to-date tax certificates
You may miss out on claiming certain deductions, which won’t appear on your auto-assessment e.g. wear and tear, home office, donations to charities, travel expenses and medical expenses you paid personally.

Check our Auto-Assessment decision tree for futher assistance.

SARS have already refunded me the auto-assessed amount - how does this work now?

If you have extra income or deductions to include, you can still file your tax return as normal with TaxTim when tax season opens on 15 July. Filing a tax return means that you can include all of your possible deductions so as to pay less tax and maximize your chance of a refund.

When you file your tax return, SARS will issue you an assessment (ITA34) which will show your new tax refund/liability amount. If you included deductions (e.g home office) in your tax return, you should have less tax to pay, which means that SARS will pay you an additional refund for the difference between the auto-assessment and the assessment per your tax return. If however, you included extra income (e.g rental) in your tax return, you will need to make a tax payment to SARS.

If I accept it, and my auto-assessment is incorrect, am I exempt from penalties/legal action?

No, you are not exempt from penalties or legal action. It is your responsibility to ensure you report all of your income and expenses accurately to SARS. If you accept your auto-assessment and you failed to declare some of your income, SARS could levy a penalty of up to 200% of the tax payable (plus interest!) should they audit you later on and discover their mistake.

What happens if I miss the deadline of 21 October to file my tax return?

If you file after the deadline, SARS will levy administrative penalties per month until the tax return is filed. 

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