Click here for more information on which documents to prepare for your income tax return.
When can I submit my income tax return?
The income tax returns for the financial year ending 28 February 2022 can be submitted to SARS from 1 July 2022. The deadline for taxpayers who are not provisional tax payers is 24 October 2022. The deadline for provisional taxpayers is 23 January 2023.
Who needs to submit a return?
Taxpayers who earn less than R500 000 per year and do not receive any allowances or fringe benefits do not need to submit a tax return.
You have to submit a tax return if you have received any of the following:
- If you have conducted any trade in South Africa. Trade refers to any form of service or product delivered for which money was received. Typically, for this, you would not get an IRP5 certificate.
- If you are a South African tax resident, who has conducted trade or employment outside the borders of South Africa
- If you have received interest exceeding the annual exemption amount? (R23 800 below age 65, R34 500 above 65yrs for the 2022 financial year.)
- If you have received an allowance such as a travel or subsistence allowance.
- If you have received a fringe benefit, such as a motor vehicle fringe benefit.
- If you held funds in foreign currency exceeding R250 000 at any stage during the year.
- If you had capital gains or losses exceeding R40 000.
- When you had a capital gain outside the border of South Africa in foreign currency.
- If you hold rights in a controlled foreign company.
How do I submit my tax return?
Returns can be submitted via eFiling or at any SARS branch.
Why do I pay tax when I have more than one income source?
Click here to get an understanding of how tax works when you receive income from more than one source. This will also give you a better understanding of why you need to pay additional tax once your tax return is submitted.
Tax return verification
We have the suspicion that a lot of tax verification will be conducted during this years’ filing season, if one looks at the last six months. There will also be delays in finalizing verification and paying out refunds. It is very important to have available proof of all the details entered on your tax return.
Once a tax return has been submitted to SARS, they will do an assessment. On the assessment, SARS will indicate whether the return has been selected for a verification. It is then up to the taxpayer to submit the supporting documents to support all the income and deductions claimed on the tax return.
SARS will then peruse these documents and notify the taxpayer of their finding. If all the information is correct, they will notify you via a letter on eFiling. If the information does not correspond with the tax return, an additional assessment will be issued. And in the event where the taxpayer has not submitted all his information, SARS will contact the taxpayer to request additional information.
How long does a tax return verification take?
SARS has 21 business days to conclude a verification once the taxpayer has submitted his or her documents. If SARS does not conclude the verification within this turnaround time, the only alternative is for the taxpayer to escalate the case. The case will then be sent to the relevant department and allocated to an employee who will then attempt to finalize the case.
What if my refund isn’t paid out?
In certain cases, SARS will request that the taxpayer verify his contact and banking details before a refund is paid out. This called a stopper. The taxpayer then has to request that SARS lifts this stopper. Together with this request, a proof of address and bank detail verification from the bank have to be submitted. Once these documents have been submitted, SARS has 21 business days to conclude the verification and once it has been finalized, 21 days to pay the refund over to the taxpayer.
Click for the requirements to submit your income tax return.