South African taxpayers who intend to file their tax returns electronically are by the regulatory guidelines expected to comply latest today, failing they will be sanctioned by the tax authority – South African Revenue Service (SARS)
Specifically, the affected taxpayers who missed the deadline to file their personal income tax returns on will pay penalties ranging from R250 to R15‚000.
The SARS had a few days ago encouraged those who waited until the last minute to submit their returns via eFiling, adding that the eFiling portal has been tweaked to receive a large volume of returns.
The Service stated: “SARS has sent reminders to taxpayers who still need to file. After the deadline‚ administrative penalties will be applied to late returns ranging between R250 and R15 000.”
According to the agency, the deadline applies to non-provisional taxpayers and for those provisional taxpayers who opt to file at a branch.
Earlier this year, 18 taxpayers were prosecuted for not submitting their tax returns as part of SARS’ outstanding tax return campaign.
The SARS reminded employers also that the deadline for submissions as part of the Employer Interim Reconciliation period also closes on October 31.
It would be recalled that flagged off the tax filing season on July 1in a bid to improve efficiency but reduced the timeline by three weeks.
The Acting Commissioner Mark Kingon, had then explained that “a shorter filing season allows additional time for SARS, taxpayers and the tax fraternity to deal with returns verifications before most taxpayers go on the December holiday break.”
The filing season, themed ‘No Sweat’, which ends today, has an emphasis on encouraging taxpayers to submit their returns electronically.
Kingon said that the SARS had engaged tax practitioner bodies on the shorter deadline.
He told journalists in Pretoria that during the engagements, some practitioners had raised concern over increased workload, while others had proposed the need to bring forward the opening of the tax season to accommodate the early deadline.
