Provisional Tax Deadline and Relief

Provisional tax is due for most companies and individuals on Monday 31st August 2020. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, provisional tax returns still need to be submitted.

SARS has implemented the following relief measures for small to medium sized business(individuals, companies, and trusts (including micro-businesses) to alleviate cash flow problems for compliant provisional taxpayers:

• Deferral of a portion of the payment of the first and second provisional tax liability to SARS, without SARS imposing penalties and interest for the late payment of the deferred amount;
• The first provisional tax payments due from 1 April 2020 to 30 September 2020 will be based on 15 percent of the estimated total tax liability,
• while the second provisional tax payments due from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 will be based on 65 percent of the estimated total tax liability (after deducting the 15% payment amount received from the 1st period into account);
• Provisional taxpayers with deferred payments will be required to pay the remaining 35% tax liability when making the third provisional tax payment in order to avoid interest charges on assessment.