PRETORIA, Saturday 13 July 2019 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is pleased to announce that there has been an increase of five percent in the uptake of eFiling in the first two weeks of Tax Season 2019.

As at yesterday (Friday 12 July), SARS had received over 456 000 personal income tax submissions via eFiling  compared to last year and over 36 600 submissions via the SARS MobiApp.

SARS has put in place Wi-Fi at its branches to convert taxpayers to these two revamped digital channels, eFiling and the SARS MobiApp, in an effort to further improve the uptake of these two digital channels.

SARS reminds taxpayers of the following Tax Season dates. SARS Branch submissions will be accepted between 01 August and 31 October, while eFilers and MobiApp users have until 04 December. 

SARS is aware that some taxpayers are experiencing challenges with the payment of refunds, and the inspection, verification or audit processes. SARS apologises for the inconvenience caused.

We would like to remind all taxpayers selected for either of these processes of our Service Charter commitment which is as follows:

If a current year’s refund is due to you and no other debt is due, all obligations have been met, SARS administrative control processes are adhered to and no inspection, verification or audit is required or has been initiated, we will endeavour to:

• Pay the current filing period’s refund, above R100, within 7 business days of finalising the final assessment.
• If you are selected for an inspection, verification or audit, we will endeavour to:
• Notify you that the return or declaration is subject to verification within 15 business days of submission, if your return is for the current filing period.
• Conclude verification within 21 business days from the date all required supporting documents are received, if your return is for the current filing period.
• Conclude an audit within 90 business days from the date all required supporting documents are received.

With regards to bank interest information, taxpayers need to note that Personal Income Tax Returns will only be pre-populated with this information from 2020. However, this information can be inserted manually for the 2019 tax year.

A number of fixes will be implemented this weekend which will address most of the feedback received from taxpayers.

SARS is working closely with tax practitioners through their Recognised Controlling Bodies (RCBs) and thanks these organisations for their co-operation in helping to deliver an excellent service to taxpayers.

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