IN an announcement on its website on Thursday afternoon (28 January), South African Revenue Service (SARS) said it would extend Filing Season deadlines for provisional taxpayers.
Provisional tax is paid twice a year manually by individuals who earn non-salary income, which includes many freelancers, traders and other small businesses, so this news will come as a relief to small businesses and tax practitioners who have been struggling to make the deadline tomorrow.
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SARS said in its statement that it made the decision because it had “noted with deep concern the unprecedented health challenge manifested through Covid-19 with the accompanying loss of lives and livelihoods.”
“SARS wishes to convey its sincere and deepest condolences to those that have lost their loved ones and wish a speedy recovery to those who are convalescing at home or in hospital,” said the statement.
The extended deadline for provisional tax payers to submit their documents was moved to Monday, 15 February, allowing those who still hadn’t filed by tomorrow an extra two weeks and three weekends to get there submissions in without and penalties.
SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said, “The decision to extend the Filing Season, was taken with due consideration of the traumatic effects being experienced by taxpayers who have lost loved ones, as well as businesses who have lost staff, during the devastating second wave of Covid-19,”
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“In line with SARS’ communication on steps taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and protect both the taxpayers and SARS staff, taxpayers are encouraged to use eFiling or the SARS MobiApp,”
Kieswetter also urged taxpayers who received auto-assessment notices last year but who have not yet accepted the auto-assessments, or edited and filed a return in response to the notice, to make use of this opportunity to do so. He said it was vital that all taxpayers remain compliant and complies with all their legal obligations to prevent administrative penalties being levied.
“While SARS believes that most taxpayers and traders comply voluntarily and want to do the right thing, we also have measures we can use to enforce compliance. However, such enforcement always remains a last resort,” the commissioner added.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za). At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.
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