The 2018 tax season for individuals commenced on the 1st of July 2018. The tax season applicable to non-provisional taxpayers has been brought forward to improve efficiency. SARS announced on its website that the shortening of the period with 18 days has been done specifically to allow more time to do the tax audits before the end of the relevant tax year.
What is the Deadline?
For manual submission to a SARS branch, the deadline for individual non-provisional taxpayers, as well as provisional taxpayers, is the 21st of September 2018. The deadline for submission for non-provisional taxpayers submitting their tax returns via e-filing is the 31st of October 2018.
SARS has taken steps to reduce their administration by sending out personalised letters to individual taxpayers who do not have to submit tax returns based on their tax returns of the previous tax season. Far too many people file tax returns unnecessary. By visiting the SARS branches to do so, they actually create extra work and bottlenecks in the tax administration.
How Do You Know That You Do Not Have to File a Return for the 2018 Tax Season?
If your total earnings from employment before tax for the period of March 2017 to February 2018 were not in excess of R350 000, then you do not have to file a return for the 2018 tax season. This is provided that you received the income from a single employer and did not have other forms of income, such as a rental, car allowance, investment interest, or part-time work income. In addition, it is subject to you not wanting to claim any rebates or extra deductions, such as travel or medical costs, which have not been deducted from your salary already.
Auto-Assessments Set to Make Processing Easier
SARS has announced that an auto-assessment system will be used in a pilot programme regarding assessments related to taxpayers who do not have to file returns in future. With such, the relevant taxpayers will know well ahead of time that they do not have to submit returns or visit the SARS branches. SARS hopes that the system will help to reduce unnecessary visits to their offices. It is only a pilot programme at this stage, with rollout depending on the success of the programme.
Present Over Past
SARS has furthermore shifted their focus towards present tax submissions, as opposed to outstanding returns for the previous tax years. SARS has explained that submission of outstanding tax returns for previous tax seasons has opened up a gap for scammers to trick taxpayers.
Make use of our professional services to help you ensure accurate and on-time filing of your returns for the 2018 tax season.