The South African Revenue Service (SARS) sent a letter to stakeholders warning that it plans to get tougher on non-compliant taxpayers in South Africa.
In the past SARS could only levy a late submission of return penalty where TWO or more tax returns are outstanding. On 29 October 2021, published in the Government Gazette, SARS now has the power to levy a late submission of return penalty where ONE or more personal income tax returns are outstanding. Effectively this means that from 1 December 2021, if your personal income tax return has not been submitted on one of SARS’ platforms, SARS will be able to levy R250 penalty per month for every return outstanding.
SARS said that this is part of a strategic objective of making non-compliance difficult and costly and that it is ‘imperative’ that it enhances its ability to impose administrative penalties in a more responsive manner.
Provisional taxpayers are required to submit their personal tax returns on or before 31 January 2022.
AUTO-ASSESMENTS
Auto-assessments were implemented for the first time during the 2020 filing season and are here to stay.
From 1 – 14 July 2024, SARS will use the data received from employers and other third-party data providers to issue simulated assessments to a considerable number of non-provisional individual taxpayers.
“As part of the auto-assessment process, SARS requests taxpayers to either accept or edit the simulated assessment via eFiling or the SARS MobiApp, which is then followed by an original assessment issued by SARS. Many taxpayers have already either accepted or edited their simulated assessments and received an original assessment from SARS” according to SARS.
However, when a taxpayer, with an auto-assessment raided by SARS, neither accepted nor edited and submitted, their simulated assessments by 21 October 2024, will receive an original assessment based on an estimate per section 95 of the Tax Administration Act. This assessment is not subject to objection and / or appeal.
The deadline for individual non-provisional taxpayers to submit their personal income e tax returns are 21 October 2024 – just around the corner!
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Kindly note this article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute accounting, tax, nor regulatory related advice. Should you need advice, please contact one of our practitioners.