Shortened Personal Income Tax Season

SARS published, on the 04 June 2018, a notice confirming the personal income tax filing season will be shortened. Individuals normally have from July until the end of November to file tax returns. Non-provisional tax payers will now need to submit their returns in four months.

The change is considered because of the increase in verifications and audits being conducted by SARS. With the ever-improving computer intelligence in the Efiling system, data in tax returns is analysed to determine which returns need to be check by SARS employees. I would understand, the system has created additional pressure for the SARS audit department to analyse and complete their work in the season.

The Efiling system and the improved SARS efficiencies in data collection, has allowed a substantial portion of personal income tax returns to be pre-populated. Tax Practitioners now test the data against supporting documents and make corrections and additions to the return based on additional information that the data collection systems are not able to analyse. With the technological improvements available to us, we need to keep looking for new and innovative ways to collect data and prepare tax returns for our clients as efficiently as possible.

The personal income tax filing season will open on 01 July 2018 and will close 31 October 2018.

Manual submissions will close 21 September 2018. All individuals are encouraged to use Efiling.

Provisional tax payers continue to have the Efiling extension up to 31 January 2019.

For more information visit http://www.sars.gov.za/Media/MediaReleases/Pages/4-June-2018—Tax-Season-2018.aspx