This year, filing season for non-provisional taxpayers (Individual and Trusts) ended on 24 October.
When the 2022 filing season opened in July this year the South African Revenue Service (Sars) issued more than 3 million auto assessments, which once again proved to be a helpful tool to increase filing compliance.
The enhanced auto-assessment process this year resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of physical queues and walk-ins at Sars branches.
By the 24 October deadline, individual and trust submissions filed for 2022 and other tax years totalled 4,806 million. This is a whopping 11,8 % increase from 2021, with the majority of these returns having been received from auto-assessments.
Only 264 000 returns were filed at Sars branches this year, with the rest submitted through electronic channels.
Payments and deadlines
Submitting a return on time and making timeous payments is an important part of a taxpayer’s culture of compliance.
To promote adherence to deadlines, Sars notifies taxpayers of the due date for payments. If the taxpayers fail to pay, then the cases will be referred to the enforcement division for debt collection.
Therefore Sars wishes to urge taxpayers to pay within the stipulated dates on the notice of assessment and ensure that they comply with payment rules.
Sars has made the following channels available for making payments:
. eFiling
. EFT Payments
. Payments at a bank
It is important to note that each payment has a unique reference number, which must be used when a payment is made. Taxpayers who are unable to pay the full amount are encouraged to approach Sars for payment arrangements.
These can be requested on eFiling or via the centralised debt management email address: Sarsdebtmanagement2@sars.gov.za.
Disagreeing with your assessment
A taxpayer who disagrees with an assessment has the right to lodge a dispute on reasonable grounds within 30 business days from the assessment being issued. Taxpayers can do this either via eFiling or at a Sars branch by appointment.
Payments can also be suspended on request via eFiling, provided that the necessary requirements are met.
Penalties for missing deadlines
Taxpayers who fail to submit and pay on or before the deadline will be charged administrative penalties for late or non-submission of the required tax return and interest for late payment. Sars will impose a fixed amount of penalties based on a taxpayer’s taxable income, which can range from R250 up to R16 000 a month for each month that the non-compliance continues.
Whether you agree or disagree with the admin penalty, it is advisable to submit the outstanding return to stop further admin penalties. The penalty will recur for every month the return(s) remain(s) outstanding for a maximum of 35 months. Meanwhile, if taxpayers disagree with the admin penalty they can submit a Request for Remission (RFR) via eFiling or at a Sars branch. The taxpayer must provide reasons for the non-compliance for the request to be considered.
If the Request for Remission is disallowed or only a portion selectively allowed, the taxpayer may still object to the decision made by Sars and even appeal the decision if they disagree with the outcome of the objection process.
Please refer to the Objections and Appeals page on the Sars website (www.sars.gov.za) for more information on how to submit a dispute in respect of an Admin Penalty.
Please note: With effect from 1 December 2022, administrative penalties relating to the late submission of a tax return will be charged when one or more tax return(s) relating to tax years from 2007 up to 2020 are outstanding. Prior to this change, taxpayers were liable only for administrative penalties for late submission if they had two or more tax returns outstanding for these tax years. For more info, see the Admin Penalty page on the Sars website.
