Help with South African Tax

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.

An IT3(b) is a Tax Certificate received from an institution such as a bank or financial services offerer which will be a summary of any interest and dividends both local and foreign that you would have earned by having money invested with one or more of these places.

An IT14SD is required for companies only. It is a schedule which reconciles the business's VAT, PAYE, Income Tax and Customs declarations from the ITR14 to the information submitted to SARS during the year. SARS may request the IT14SD after submission of the ITR14. If it is required, SARS will make it available to the taxpayer via a link in SARS eFiling.

This form was discontinued in September 2022 and is no longer a SARS requirement.

An IT3a is the same as an IRP5, except that it shows employee earnings from which tax has NOT been deducted.

An IT3(a) is a tax certificate issued to a taxpayer at the end of the tax year, detailing income, allowances, and deductions where no employees’ tax (PAYE) was withheld. It is typically provided for payments such as contract income, allowances, or other remuneration not subject to PAYE.

This certificate is used by the taxpayer to accurately complete their income tax return for the relevant tax year.

An Income Tax Return (ITR12) is a form that SARS requires all individuals (including provisional taxpayers) to complete and submit to SARS once every year.

The form is used to declare your income, deductions and tax credits to SARS, so that SARS can calculate how much tax you need to pay, or the refund due to you.

Taxpayers, including provisional taxpayers, only need to complete and submit an ITR12 (income tax return) once a year. The ITR12 form allows you to capture all your income, with separate sections for different types of income. For example, if you worked two jobs, you would receive two IRP5S (one from each employer). You would simply declare both IRP5 tax certificates on your tax return, one after the other - it is very important to never combine information unless it is required.

An IRP6 is a Tax Return completed by provisional taxpayers twice during the tax year to declare their estimated taxable income.

The first provisional tax return must be submitted six months into the tax year (i.e end of August) and the second provisional tax return by the end of the tax year (i.e end of February). Just like regular taxpayers, provisional taxpayers also need to submit their annual income tax return (ITR12) after the tax year that has passed.

It is important to note that provisional tax is not separate from income tax. It is simply a way to pay your taxes during the tax year instead of having a large amount owing to SARS on assessment when you submit your income tax return (ITR12).

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Validity of a completed and endorsed ITR-DD form:

If the disability is of a permanent nature and the disability remains moderate to severe:

• Ten years where the disability has occurred for the first time on or after 01 March 2019.
• Five years after the expiry date of the form, which was valid on 01 March 2019, where the disability had occurred for the first time before 01 March 2019.

If the disability is of a temporary nature:

• One year from 01 March of each year of assessment, where the disability is not of a permanent nature.