Written by Patrick
Posted 9 October 2019
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. When SARS has completed their audit, they send a letter called a Verfication of Asssment/Completion Letter. This has the following wording: VERIFICATION OF ASSESSMENT We refer to the verification of the assessment for the 20xx tax period. Please note that no adjustment has been made to this assessment. However, in terms of the Tax Administration Act the South African Revenue Service reserves the right to conduct further reviews in ... With the first provisional return still fresh in the minds of taxpayers, we thought it would be a good time to highlight some questions that were asked to our Helpdesk last month. We’ve recently received many questions from taxpayers asking us if we physically went into a SARS office to submit their returns manually. 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. On 20 June 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the sixth parliament, and for the first time in years, we witnessed an uninterrupted SONA. And that is not the only first. For the first time, the SONA cost almost R2m, a staggering 47% lower than the cost of SONA 2018 and the lowest in five years. 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 ... At TaxTim we receive many questions from taxpayers who pay medical aid for dependent family members and who want to know if they can claim for this in their tax return. When paying medical aid contributions for a ‘financial dependent’ the medical scheme fees tax credit applies in respect of fees paid by the person to a medical scheme. This means that the person who is paying the medical aid will receive the medical tax credits, and not the dependent/member of the medical aid. Who is a ‘dependent’?... 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: An IRP3(e) is a tax directive from SARS to instruct an employer, a fund or a commission earner the tax amount that they should deduct from either a lump sum or commission income that an employee might be due to receive. Our helpdesk receives hundreds of questions from commission earners about how their tax is calculated. Many are also confused about which expenses they can claim. Hopefully our FAQ will help other taxpayers who might be puzzling over the same issues. Should the commiss... I have been living abroad for a while, since February 2018 to be exact. I filed my tax return for the 2017/2018 financial year, as it reflected my income for the previous year, during which I was employed in South Africa. I would like to maintain an unbroken record with SARS, but I'm not sure how to file for income earned abroad. My current income is well below the R1 million limit impostor in South Africans working abroad. I will be tax returning to SA in March 2019. So, I would like to know wh...
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TaxTim in Fairlady Magazine
Written by Neo
Posted 7 October 2019
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Verification of Assessment - what now?
Written by Marc
Posted 25 September 2019
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Tax on shares
Written by Neo
Posted 19 September 2019
I received a once-off payment for shares in November 2018. I then opted to pay tax on the shares before the payments was made to me. Therefore the tax was already deducted before any monies were paid to me. I am now uncertain how to enter this in my 2019 tax return. Can you please advise %u2013 do I need to submit this income in my 2019 tax return and if I must, what figures must I submit in terms of the share payment made to me in this tax year?
Old Tax Returns
Written by Neo
Posted 13 September 2019
SARS owes me money from a tax return which I recently submitted with the help of TaxTim. They have come back to say that I need to file my old tax returns from the year 2016 and 2017, but I was not working during those two years and I also never filed any tax returns during those two years. I am not so sure about what should I do now regarding this matter?
Top Questions on Provisional Tax
Written by Neo
Posted 13 September 2019
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Return Status ‘Filed through Branch’ " What Does This Mean?
Written by Neo
Posted 13 September 2019
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Corrected IRP5
Written by Neo
Posted 11 September 2019
My employer had to fix the tax period on my IRP5 and it has now been resubmitted to SARS. I would like to know if I am able to get TaxTim to reload this new IRP5 document for me? Also, please note that there are some amount changes as well which were made and this needs to reflect before I can agree to submit the final details. Is there perhaps a process whereby TaxTim can import the IRP5 before commencing to the submission state?
Tax on living annuity
Written by Neo
Posted 5 September 2019
What type of a taxpayer am I if I receive a living annuity and I am 42 years old? My monthly living annuity income is just over R10000, I also receive money from my children's investments which ranges between R1000 and R8000.
Making payments to SARS
Written by Neo
Posted 5 September 2019
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Tax helpdesk assistant interview
Written by Evan
Posted 2 September 2019
Answer Tim's questions above to see if you have what it takes to work with the TaxTim team!
IT3(f)
Written by Nicci
Posted 29 August 2019
An IT3(f) is a Tax Certificate received from a financial services institution. It is a summary of the details of your contribution to a Retirement Annuity Fund made for the year. Note, this is not the same as a Pension or Provident Fund. It is specifically for a Retirement Annuity Fund only.
REIT
Written by Nicci
Posted 29 August 2019
A REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust. This is a listed property investment vehicle. Distributions from REITs must be included in the taxpayer's taxable income and will be taxed per their marginal tax rate.
Claiming retirement
Written by Neo
Posted 25 July 2019
I am confused and I need some clarity regarding money I am contributing into a pension fund. I am making monthly contributions into someone else%u2019s pension fund. I was wondering whether I can deduct my contributions from my income for tax purposes. Can I claim these contributions back? I am not certain whether this is doable and would appreciate your help.
SONA 2019 - A Short Summary
Written by Patrick
Posted 23 July 2019
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SARS has done a ‘simulated calculation’ for me " what does this mean?
Written by Neo
Posted 19 July 2019
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How to claim medical aid costs for a family member
Written by Neo
Posted 19 July 2019
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Senior PHP developer interview
Written by Evan
Posted 19 July 2019
Answer Tim's questions above to see if you have what it takes to work with the TaxTim team!
Why is SARS requesting my supporting documents again?
Written by Neo
Posted 15 July 2019
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What should I do if I have no assessment from SARS after having filed a return?
Written by Marc
Posted 11 July 2019
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IRP3(e)
Written by Nicci
Posted 28 June 2019
Provisional Tax on Rental Income
Written by Neo
Posted 13 June 2019
My wife and I are South African and we are currently based in East Asia. I work here as a teacher and my wife is not employed. We are married in community of property. So, back at home in Durban, we own two properties, one is residential and the other an office space. We receive rental income of about R6000 and R7500 respectively. Both properties are mortgaged and they are part of a sectional title scheme. Should we register as provisional taxpayers and how would we go about doing this?
Top questions on Commission Earners
Written by Neo
Posted 7 June 2019
1. I have a salary and earn a small commission; can I claim for my travel to and from work every day? (The commission is based on the sales that my team makes telephonically per month).
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Submitting a tax return and foreign income
Written by Neo
Posted 5 June 2019
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Earnings of a teacher and tax
Written by Neo
Posted 5 June 2019
I would like to find out if I should submit a tax return as a teacher that earns R300 000 per annum. Would this be required of me?
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