Tax Year 2016 – What You Need to Know
Companies and individuals alike need to concern themselves with their tax responsibilities. Unfortunately, non-compliance or failure to pay taxes that are due can result in serious problems with the SARS (South African Revenue Service). For individuals, tax season for 2016 is ready for contribution from July 1 and SARS actively encourages individuals to organise their taxes accordingly. During tax year 2016, you need to ensure that your income tax returns are submitted so that SARS can process and reconcile your income, the tax required and of course, what your tax-deductible expenses are for the year that typically runs from the March 1, 2015 until the end of February 2016. Submitting your tax return on time also means that you will not run into too many hassles when it comes to a tax refund.
July to November each year is considered to be “tax season”. To submit your tax return, it is important to ensure that you have all of the required documentation to support your submission. These include IRP5/IT3, IT3(b) for investment returns, financial statements for business returns, certificates and receipts for medical aid contributions, certificates for retirement annuities, business travel expenses documentation and bank account details.
SARS recommends that all businesses and individuals hang onto their supporting documentation for at least five years. Due dates are of vital importance when submitting tax returns and your tax service provider should ensure that you are prepared for these dates. These include:
- November 25, 2016 – provisional and non-provisional returns done at a SARS branch. Non-provisional e-filing must also be completed on this date.
- January 31, 2017 – provisional e-filing submissions.
It is important to remember that not all individuals have to submit a tax return, especially if they have one employer and their monthly income for the past year per month has been less than R29 166,00. Of course, there are other terms and conditions that apply to this and it is best to talk to one of our tax consultants about what is required by you.
At Tax Leaders, we are dedicated to assisting individuals and businesses with their returns for tax year 2016 period. If you need any advice or assistance along the way, we strongly recommend that you get in touch with us so that we can assist you with a smooth, accurate and hassle-free tax return. For more information and advice on tax returns for 2016, contact us at Tax Leaders via email or telephone today.