Hundreds of employees from around the province are expected to participate in the regional South Gauteng Walk-for-Tax to say ‘Thank You’ to taxpayers and strengthen relations with the public and citizens. Employees will hand out useful tax information to members of the public, businesses and informal traders during the walk.
This will be the fifth leg of a national initiative to demonstrate the commitment and readiness of SARS staff to provide excellent service to taxpayers and popularize revenue collection.
Similar tax walks took place at Pretoria SARS Headquarters on 01 July, when SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane launched Tax Season 2016. Recently, this was soon followed by similar events in Durban, Bloemfontein and Mpumalanga.
Commissioner Moyane said the aim of the initiative is to create awareness about the importance of tax payment.
“Paying tax is cool because it is the highest form of patriotism where individuals and companies make a direct contribution toward the improvement of quality of life for all the citizens of our country.
“Above all, Walk-for-Tax aims to demonstrate to South Africa that SARS is ready to serve taxpayers during Tax Season and reach new revenue collection heights”.
“With these walks, we declare in each of our ten regions that SARS is at the service of the nation and we encourage everyone to be compliant,” said Moyane.
For further information contact sarsmedia@sars.gov.za or contact Janine Mqulwana at 060 976 5353 / Sandile Memela at 082 800 3750.
Tax Season Facts
Tax Season has grown into an important partnership between government and taxpayers who make a vital contribution to our country’s tax system. It represents the single biggest annual engagement between SARS and taxpayers, when more than 4 million taxpayers submit their income tax returns.
*Also see SARS’s statement of 25 July 2016: 1-million tax returns filed in 21 days.
Fraud Alert
With tax season comes many attempts to scam taxpayers. SARS would like to remind taxpayers that, even if they are using the service of a tax practitioner or an intermediary, the taxpayer remains personally liable for their own tax affairs and their own compliance. Taxpayers should ensure the tax practitioner they use is registered and accredited, and can check the registration status of a tax practitioner on the SARS website.
Taxpayers who are concerned about emails or SMS messages claiming to be from SARS should:
- Visit the SARS Scams and Phishing webpage on www.sars.gov.za
- Email phishing@sars.gov.za
- Call the SARS Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 2870, or
- Call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277.
Only those that earn more than R350 000 need to submit an ITR12
Not everyone needs to submit an income tax return. Taxpayers whose total salary for the year is no more than R350 000 may not need to submit a tax return if:
- Their total salary for the year before tax is less than R350 000
- They only receive employment income from one employer for the full year of assessment
- They have no other form of income such as car allowance, business income, taxable interest or rent or income from another job
- They don’t have any additional allowable tax deductions to claim such as medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions, travel expenses.
If there is an uncertainty about who should submit a tax return, taxpayers can get assistance on the 2016 Tax Season webpage on www.sars.gov.za.
Efiling and Help-You-Efile Services
Taxpayers are once again encouraged to use SARS eFiling to submit their tax returns as it is the quickest and easiest way to submit a return and is available 24 hours. eFilers requiring assistance can make use of the free Help-You-eFile service by simply clicking on the Help-You-eFile icon on eFiling and following the prompts to get access to a friendly SARS Contact Centre agent who will help them every step of the way while eFiling.
Recovering forgotten eFiling login details and password
We understand that Taxpayers sometimes forget their eFiling credentials. To receive your login details, follow these easy steps:
- Visit sarsefiling.co.za
- Click on Login
- Click on the question mark
- Request your login details
- SARS will send it to your registered email address or cellphone number
- If you are still stuck? Phone the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277 for help.
SARS at the service of taxpayers
- SARS branches:
SARS will continue to strive towards providing the best services possible to taxpayers during Tax Season. In this regard, we continue to extend our operational reach across the country.
The ever-increasing SARS footprint now extends to 53 branches nationwide, 21 Mobile Tax Units that service taxpayers in remote areas of the country and increased efficiency at the SARS Contact Centre.
- SARS Contact Centre – Call-back function:
Taxpayers calling the SARS Contact Centre who are too busy to be put on hold can request SARS to call them back without losing their place in the queue. By following the voice prompts, a SARS agent will return calls and provide telephonic assistance.
Bring correct documents
If you would like to submit your ITR12 easily, have the following documents which are applicable to you on hand if you are eFiling or with you if you are filing at a SARS branch:
- PROOF OF INCOME. All the certificates you received IRP5 (employer), IT3(a) (Pension or retirement fund, IT3 (b) (Investments), Capital gain tax and Financial statements.
- PROOF OF IDENTITY. ID book, passport or driver’s licence.
- PROOF OF DEDUCTIONS. All relevant documents such as medical aid, pension and retirement annuity certificates and medical expenses
DON’T INFLATE OR UNDERSTATE AMOUNTS. Use only accurate information and the correct figures that appear on your various supporting documents when you complete your return.
Reaching new heights
Last year 5.94 million submissions were submitted to SARS which was 11.52% higher than in 2014. This included individuals, trusts and prior year submissions. Compliance for taxpayers filing on time exceeded 90% for the third consecutive year.
A review of 2015 Tax Season highlights the following:
- 2 million returns were from individuals for the 2015 tax year
- 69 million were outstanding returns from prior years
- 45 390 were trust returns
- 96% of returns were filed electronically, either via eFiling representing 51.84%, or through electronically assisted filing at a SARS branch or mobile tax unit
- Manual submissions are down to less than 2000 returns, representing 0.04% of total volume
- More than 95% of all returns submitted were assessed within 3 seconds and more than 99% within 24 hours
- SARS paid out 1.82 million refunds to the value of 15 billion rand – more than 95% of these refunds were paid within 72 hours
Deadline Dates for the 2016 Tax Season
- 23 September 2016 – Manual/postal submissions
- 25 November 2016 – At a SARS branch (non-provisional)
- 25 November 2016 – eFiling (non-provisional)
- 31 January 2017 – Provisional taxpayers via eFiling
