Mpumalanga employees will stage a Walk-for-Tax in eMalahleni on Friday, September 2.

The Mpumalanga Walk-for-Tax is the fourth leg of a national initiative to demonstrate the commitment and readiness of SARS staff to provide excellent service to taxpayers - and deliver on its mandate of collecting all the money that is due to the fiscus. Similar tax walks took place in Pretoria on July 1, when SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane launched Tax Season 2016, as well as in Durban and Bloemfontein over the past two months.  

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,”  

The walk of approximately 11 km symbolises the target of R1.175 trillion that SARS is expected to collect by March 31. Employees will hand out useful tax information to members of the public, vendors, and informal traders during the walk.

“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 email SARS  or contact Janine Mqulwana on 060-976-5353 / Sandile Memela on 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 July 25: 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 or send an email. 

Call the SARS Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800-00-2870, or call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800-007-277.

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.

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 www.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 0800-007-277 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:

- 4.2 million returns were from individuals for the 2015 tax year
- 1.69 million were outstanding returns from prior years
- 45 390 were trust returns
- 99.96% 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 - Manual/postal submissions
25 November -  At a SARS branch (non-provisional)
25 November - eFiling (non-provisional)
31 January 2017 - Provisional taxpayers via eFiling

Submitted by SARS MEDIA
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