SARS has announced that their filing season will run from 15 July to 21 October for individual taxpayers, with taxpayers being encouraged to file online. Provisional taxpayers, including trusts, will have until 20 January 2025 to file via eFiling or the MobiApp.
Determining whether you need to submit a tax return
Not everyone who has earned an income in the current tax year needs to file a tax return. This is because, as an individual, you were only liable to pay tax if your taxable income was more than the tax threshold, which for the March 2023 to February 2024 period were as follows:
- R95 750 for individuals younger than age 65;
- R148 217 for individuals older than 65, but younger than 75;
- R165 689 for individuals aged 75 and older.
Further, if all of the following criteria apply to you, you do not need to submit a tax return:
- Your total pre-tax salary for the year was not more than R500 000 and employees’ tax has been deducted or withheld in terms of the deduction tables, and
- You only received employment income for the full year of assessment from a single employer, and
- You have no car allowance, company car, travel allowance, interest income or rental income, and
- You are not claiming tax-related deductions.
If you are a South African tax resident and have earned above the tax threshold, you will need to file a tax return if you have had more than one employer or income source during the tax year. For instance, if you are formally employed and earn a rental income from an investment property, you will be required to file returns. Also, if you changed employers during the course of the tax year, this will qualify as two different income streams and you will be required to file a return.
In certain circumstances, you may be required to file a tax return regardless of whether your taxable income exceeded the tax threshold or not. For instance, if you carried on a business in or outside of South Africa, sold assets and the capital gain was more than R40 000 for the tax year, or where you owned foreign current or assets exceeding R250 000 at any time during the tax year, you will be required to submit tax returns.
If you are unsure whether you need to submit an ITR12, it’s best to follow these guidelines issued by SARS, Do you need to submit a tax return? which set out nine questions relating to your income during the year of assessment.
Preparing for your filing
If you have not yet received your IRP5 or IT3(a)s and other tax certificates, such as your medical aid certificate or retirement annuity certificate, you should contact your employer and/or service providers to obtain these as soon as possible. Other documentation that you will require to complete your submission includes the following:
- Certificates received for local interest income, foreign interest income, and foreign dividend income. Remember, if you are married in community of property, the certificates received by both you and your spouse are required.
- Proof of qualifying expenses from your medical scheme for the period 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2024.
- A logbook to claim business travel deductions where you receive a travel allowance or a fringe benefit from an employer-provided vehicle.
- All information pertaining to both local and foreign capital gain transactions.
- Documents and receipts for commission-related expenditure.
- All information relating to the letting of assets.
- All information relating to income that must be declared or deductions that must be claimed.
As a taxpayer, you have the choice of filing your returns via the eFiling site, the MobiApp, or in person. If you choose to file via eFiling or the MobiApp, SARS agents are available to assist you telephonically. The MobiApp has been enhanced to include additional services which can be accessed with or without data or airtime, and these include the ability to request an eBooking appointment, a confirmation request to determine whether to submit a tax return, the issuing of a Tax Registration Number, and requesting a statement of appoint.
Those taxpayers who cannot file online or through the app can do so physically through a SARS branch, but this will take place by appointment only. Taxpayers have been advised not to arrive at a SARS branch until further notice. To make an appointment with SARS, you can send an SMS to request a booking or call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277.
Auto-assessments
In order to expedite the eFiling process, SARS will be actioning auto-assessments on around 3 million taxpayers. To do this, SARS uses data received from employers, medical schemes, financial institutions, retirement annuity funds and other third-party data providers. If you have been selected for auto-assessment, you will receive an SMS notification from SARS to this effect. Upon the collection of data, SARS will complete an auto-assessment which will be pre-loaded against the taxpayer’s profile. If you are happy with the outcome of the auto-assessment, you can accept it online which means that you no longer need to file a tax return because SARS has effectively done this for you. If you are due a refund, SARS will pay the refund to you as normal, as long as SARS has your correct bank details on record. If you owe SARS money, you can make payment as per the normal process on eFiling, via EFT or MobiApp. Before accepting your auto-assessment, be sure to check that all the prepopulated third-party information displays correctly on your tax return before you accept your auto-assessment.
If you are not happy with the auto-assessment, online functionality allows you to edit your returns. If you have additional deductions to claim, such as rental income, excess medical expenses, or home office deductions that have not been pre-populated, you need to enter these online. Remember, the onus is on you to ensure that the information declared is accurate, and not fully declaring all your income can result in non-compliance penalties.
Have a fantastic day.
Sue
