Tax season is underway

According to finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene tax revenue was expected to grow by 10 percent on the R899.8 billion that was collected last year after refunds, to R993.6 billion.

Nene was confident that revenues would increase despite an underperforming economy.

“The South African economy is continuing to grow at a moderate pace but continues to underperform,” Nene said.

Statistics supplied by Sars showed that 6.5-million returns were submitted for the 2013/2014 financial year, which represented an increase of nearly four percent from 2012.

According to Sars, last year Personal Income Tax accounted for more than R310.9 billion, a third of total revenue collected.

In a bid to improve services, over the past three years Sars opened six branch offices and nine fully-equipped mobile tax units were being deployed to remote areas throughout the country.

Those who submit their tax returns electronically can use the new ‘inbox’ feature on the eFiling page that enables users to access all of their correspondence from Sars easily.

Further, this tax season Sars is amending its system, allowing only registered tax practitioners to file on behalf of another person.

Sars would not accept a return from tax practitioners who were not registered with Sars and one of the profession’s controlling bodies, and only registered tax practitioners would be able to use Sars services dedicated to tax advisers.

Sars spokesperson, Marika Muller said these steps were to safeguard taxpayers who were using the services of a tax practitioner.

The requirement aims to ensure that tax practitioners were adequately qualified, and that there was recourse available to taxpayers and Sars to address potential problems that may arise.

The deadline for submitting returns manually was 26 September and 21 November for people with a single income who file their returns electronically.

Those with more than one income stream, such as rental or interest income, have until 30 January to submit their returns.

Taxpayers who submit their returns electronically could use the Sars eFiling website (www.efiling.gov.za).