2024 Individual tax filing season

On July 15, 2024, Filing Season 2024 officially opened for individual taxpayers not selected for Auto Assessment.

Non-provisional taxpayers can file with SARS eFiling or SARS MobiApp on or before October 21, 2024.

Provisional Taxpayers must do so by January 20, 2025.

Documents You Need to Complete Your Return

Supporting documents that must be submitted to complete an Income tax Return include:

• IRP5 or IT3(a) Employees’ Tax Certificate for remuneration or lump sums received from your employer, pension fund, provident fund, or retirement annuity fund.
• Certificates for local interest, foreign interest income, and foreign dividend income.
• Medical-aid documents and related medical expenditures, including:
  • The tax certificate received from your medical scheme.
  • Proof of qualifying medical expenses paid by you and not recovered from a medical scheme.
  • Completed ITR-DD Confirmation of Diagnosis of Disability form (if you want to claim disability-related expenses).
• A logbook if you want to claim vehicle or business travel allowances.
• Income-tax certificate(s) from your retirement annuity fund.
• Section 18A donation tax certificate.
• Documents and receipts for commission-related expenditures, including a logbook to claim business-travel deductions.
• Any other documents relating to income that must be declared or deductions that may be claimed.
• Remember to keep all supporting documents for five years from the date you submit a return. SARS can request these documents to verify the information declared on your Income Tax Return. If SARS asks for your supporting documents, you can upload them on eFiling, SARS MobiApp, or SARS Online Query System. Please ensure that the documents are not password-protected.

Owing SARS Money

You will receive a notice of assessment after filing a return that informs you how much you owe SARS and the due date for payment. You can also ask SARS to issue a detailed statement of account or access it on eFiling.

Individual taxpayers must be fully tax-compliant when submitting returns and payments. If taxpayers are not compliant and have outstanding tax debt, SARS’s Debt Management Department will help individuals fix their tax matters. SARS wants to make it easy to meet your tax obligations.

Refund Delays

When you submit your tax return, your refund payment can be delayed if:

• Your banking details have been selected for verification, which can take up to 21 business days from the date all required supporting documents are received. Once your bank details are verified, your refund will be paid within 72 hours.
• Your Income Tax Return is selected for verification, which can take up to 21 business days from the date all required supporting documents are received. Once your return is verified, your refund will be paid within 72 hours.

Using a Tax Practitioner

In terms of Section 240 of the Tax Administration Act No.28 of 2011, all tax practitioners who complete and submit tax returns on behalf of clients must be registered with both a Recognised Controlling Body (RCB) and SARS. Such tax practitioners have full authority to prepare and submit tax returns on behalf of their clients. Individuals who are not registered as tax practitioners will not enjoy this privilege.

To ensure that you are working with a registered tax practitioner, please request the practitioner’s PR Number for verification on the Tax Practitioner Verification Link

Source: The Citizen