The countdown to the tax filing deadlines has begun, and if you haven’t yet sent off your return to the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the clock is ticking.
If you haven’t yet made a start on your return, now is the time to do so. Today we publish an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide to submitting your return.
This year, SARS’s tax filing season campaign is focused on “taking the eish out tax-eish-ion”.
One of the ways to do this, SARS says, is to use eFiling, because it’s available at any time of the day and you can track the progress of your assessment and keep tabs on your account with SARS.
You also have more time to file your return, although SARS encourages you not to wait until the last minute, because the eFiling website (www.sarsefiling.co.za) is likely to be more congested closer to the deadline. To use eFiling, you first need to register on the site and obtain a username and password.
If you are not confident filing your return online, you can get a SARS consultant to help you to file electronically at a SARS branch.
But again, SARS warns, don’t leave it too late, because a shorter queue at a SARS branch is more likely if you go sooner rather than later.
Last year, 2.25 million taxpayers used eFiling and a further 1.56 million filed electronically at SARS branches.
SARS says you don’t need to worry that, if you file your return early, you may have to pay the tax you owe sooner. If you file early and are due a refund, you get the money sooner, but if you owe SARS, as long as you are not a provisional taxpayer, you have until January 31 to pay, without interest.
Another way to avoid an “Eish!” is to file before the deadline and avoid penalties for late or non-submission of returns. Penalties start at R250 a month per return and go up to R16 000 a month depending on your taxable income.
Since January last year SARS has levied penalties on individual taxpayers with more than one return outstanding. It plans now to penalise taxpayers who failed to submit returns for the 2010 tax year.
More than 80 000 taxpayers have paid SARS R191 million in penalties.
The tax return deadlines are:
* For paper tax returns: Friday, September 30;
* For eFiled returns from your computer or at a SARS branch: Friday, November 25; and
* For provisional taxpayers who eFile: Tuesday, January 31 next year (but don’t forget your first 2011 provisional tax return, due Tuesday, August 30).
If you miss the deadline, in addition to being hit with monthly penalties, you will be charged interest on any amounts you owe SARS at the rate of 8.5 percent – another “Eish!” you could avoid.