The South African Revenue Service (Sars) says it will continue to auto-assess some taxpayers as the individual filing season kicks off on 1 July.
With the season for non-provisional taxpayers set to run until 24 October, the revenue service said it will automatically assess a significant number of people again this year.
ALSO READ: Task teams to tackle infrastructure-related crimes
This process was introduced in 2020 to limit the queues at Sars branches and to observe social distancing regulations following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sars auto-assesses based on third-party data received from employers, financial institutions, medical schemes, and retirement fund administrators.
These taxpayers will need to accept or edit and submit the auto-assessments by 24 October if they are individual non-provisional taxpayers.
Joon Chong, partner at law firm Webber Wentzel, said this due date for the 2022 filing season is a month earlier than last year’s, which was 23 November.
‘Individuals who are auto-assessed but do not accept, edit or submit their auto-assessments will receive an estimated assessment from Sars which is not subject to objection and appeal,’ said Chong.
Last year, Sars sent out 3.4 million auto assessments, with more than
2.2 million taxpayers accepting and more than 1.5 million accepting without any changes.
‘This represents a 74% acceptance rate of a new service offering. Regrettably, more than 630 000 taxpayers neither accepted nor edited their returns,’ said Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter.
‘Despite the measurable progress, the organisation will have to work to continually improve our service culture and standards, expand taxpayer education offerings, and promote the online platforms and digital offerings we have created to interact with taxpayers, among other things,’ he said.
Taxpayers who are not auto-assessed will be able to submit their returns through the e-filing system or at the branch by appointment.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
For news straight to your phone invite us:
WhatsApp – 060 784 2695
Instagram – zululand_observer
