Time is running out for individual taxpayers to submit their income tax returns via eFiling and the SARS MobiApp.
“The South African Revenue Service (SARS) reminds individual taxpayers, who are required to file an income return, that they have until Monday, 16 November 2020, to submit returns via the online platforms, namely the SARS MobiApp or eFiling,” said SARS.
Taxpayers who have received auto-assessment from SARS (meaning their returns have automatically been filed and assessed), are also reminded that they must accept the assessment or edit their return on eFiling.
The revenue service said it will deal decisively with non-compliance such as the non-submission or late submission of returns.
Taxpayers who are yet to file can download the SARS MobiApp from the Playstore or Appstore and easily perform the following functions, among others:
1. Register as a taxpayer and for SARS eFiling.
2. Submit a return.
3. Use the phone camera to upload supporting documents.
4. Retrieve their username or reset their password.
5. View their Notice of Assessment (ITA34).
6. Request a call-back to get the assistance of a SARS agent.
However, not every taxpayer needs to submit a return.
Taxpayers who meet all of the following criteria need not
submit a return:
1. Their total employment income for the year before tax is not more than R500 000.
2. They only receive employment income from one employer for the full tax year.
3. They have no other form of income (e.g. car allowance, business income, rental income, taxable interest or income from another job).
4. They don’t have any additional allowable tax-related deductions to claim (e.g. medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions and travel expenses).
Provisional taxpayers who use eFiling have until January 29 next year to submit their returns, while the tax season for individual taxpayers who file at a branch closed on October 22.
The revenue service also announced that following the decision by South African banks to discontinue cheques as a form of payment, it would no longer accept cheques as a form of payment at customs ports of entry from December 14. It will also not accept cheques at banks from January 1 next year.
