Tax filing season made easy
How to make your tax season relatively hassle free, thanks to Tax Consulting SA.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced earlier this year that the 2017/ 18 tax-filing season is to kick off on 1 July 2018, however, the e-filing system is already allowing submission of tax returns, said Tax Consulting SA.
Thamsanqa Msiza, Senior Tax Consultant, and Darren Britz, Attorney, both employed at Tax Consulting said in a statement, “Sars also appears to be driving tax compliance home with renewed vigour this year, with a shorter tax season, as well as a couple of enhancements to the new 2017/ 18 tax return.”
They added that if the advice given below is used, taxpayers should be able to rest assured that they will have a relatively hassle-free tax season.
Here are some important hints for the tax-filing season:
• IRP 5: Check that your employer-issued IRP5 certificate is correctly reflected on the tax return. If you do not have a South African identity number, because, for example, you’re an expatriate working in South Africa, the information from your IRP5 certificate will not be pre-populated into your tax return, so you’ll need to get a printed form from your employer to allow you to manually input this information.
• Medical and retirement annuity tax info: Sars has made a major improvement with regard to the taxpayer’s medical aid and retirement annuity tax information. This information is now pre-populated, as received from financial institutions – saving the taxpayer time in preparing the 2018 tax return. However, the onus is on the taxpayer to ensure this is correct; so please verify it before just accepting the Sars information. Mistakes are probably not the result of a Sars error – they may result from incorrect information sent through from a financial institution.
• Get professional help: There is little doubt that Sars will enforce compliance even more vigorously this year than previously. If you are a high-risk tax-payer, including being a foreigner working in South Africa; a South African working abroad; or someone having large capital gains, or income from rental properties or from a trust, rather engage the services of an experienced tax practitioner to assist to file your return.
• Check for audits: Before you submit your tax return, check with the tax calculation function on Sars e-filing that there are no amounts due. Where there are tax amounts due, interest or penalties will often be charged if these amounts should have been settled on a provisional tax basis. An experienced tax practitioner will not only be able to assist with any possible mitigation, but can also confirm the instances where there are no penalties and interest.
• Pay now, argue later: If you disagree with Sars’ tax assessment, always bear the ‘pay-now-argue-later’ principle in mind. You must ask for a suspension of payment, as commencing a dispute with Sars does not stop the obligation to settle the amount Sars has calculated as due. Also, in following the dispute resolution rules, it is best to ask Sars for reasons for their figures before simply lodging an objection. In more complex or higher value cases, engage a tax practitioner, or ideally, an admitted attorney specialising in tax, early on, to avoid premature forfeiture of your claim and ensure client privilege.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (please remember to include your contact details in the email) or phone us on 011 693 3671.
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