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SARS is preparing for the next phase of the tax season – what you need to know

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will introduce a number of new services to assist taxpayers in the next phase of the individual filing season.

From 1 September to 22 October 2020, taxpayers can visit SARS branches for assistance with completing and submitting their tax returns, the revenue collector said.

However, taxpayers can only do so by making an appointment, due to social distancing requirements under lockdown regulations, it said.

From 1 September, SARS said that it will be introducing the following services:


Auto-assessments 

SARS will be calling certain taxpayers who have been sent auto-assessment SMSes and have not responded.

The call will be to ascertain why they have not accepted their auto assessments and to help them either to accept or edit their return and submit it on their behalf. These taxpayers:

  • Have all been auto-assessed;
  • Have a refund due to them;
  • Submitted their returns at a branch last year;
  • Have not responded to an auto-assessment SMS.

Ebookings 

From 1 September, the eBooking system will give the taxpayer confirmation in real-time of their booking slot with their case number and also advise them of supporting documents that they may need to take along with them for their appointment.

Since 24 July 2020, SARS said that there have already been 14,201 eBookings made via its website. The tax collector said that it has also set up toll-free number (0800 11 7277) for taxpayers to make branch appointments.

“With both the toll-free number and the online eBooking system, taxpayers will have the option of booking a virtual session with a SARS agent – via video or voice call. This would especially be helpful for the elderly, disabled or those who live far from a tax office,” SARS said.

If they choose the video option, taxpayers will be sent a link to the video call which they can access on the day of the appointment, SARS said.

For video calls, taxpayers will need to have either a smartphone with a camera or a PC with a camera to start and conclude a video appointment, it said.


Progress so far

Since the first phase of individual filing season was introduced on 1 August 2020, SARS said its been actively encouraging taxpayers to use its newly-revamped digital channels to file their returns.

“Over the past month we have focused on auto-assessments, in which we pre-populated taxpayers’ returns by using third party data, artificial intelligence and a taxpayer’s prior compliance history.

“This was implemented to make it easier for taxpayers to submit their returns electronically – particularly those with standard tax returns – as they simply had to log into eFiling and accept the assessment if all their details were correct.”

By 31 July 2020, SARS said it had sent over three million auto-assessment SMSes to taxpayers. As of 27 August, 500,322 taxpayers had accepted the auto-assessment outcome thus far.

This means that 51% of those who had been selected for auto-assessment and have already filed, accepted the outcome, while 49% elected to edit and submit their return.

SARS said it will continue to make follow-up calls to encourage uptake, and prevent people from having to come into its offices to file.

“Over the past month, we have also been encouraged to see that of the just over 1.16 million taxpayers who have already filed their returns electronically, 281,160 were taxpayers who used to submit at branches in the past and are now using one of our digital channels (eFiling and/or MobiApp).”

Common complaints 

SARS said it has also been monitoring its social media channels for common issues and complaints. It added that it was now working to address the following issues:

  • Wait times: We are aware that some taxpayers have complained about the lengthy waiting times when they call our Contact Centre, which is often the case during this early phase of filing season. However, taxpayers can use other query channels instead of calling the Contact Centre, namely: go to the SARS website (www.sars.gov.za), click on Contact Us > Contact SARS by email/fax or post
  • Refund time frames: Taxpayers are reminded that if their assessment was not selected for audit or verification, they can expect a refund (if it is due) within three business days. If selected for audit or verification, the process should be concluded within 21 business days from the date all required supporting documents are received. Once they have received a completion notification from SARS, they can expect the refund within three business days.
  • Sassa grants: We are getting a lot of queries about people being rejected for SASSA grants as it states they are registered with SARS for PAYE or are receiving an income. According to SASSA, to qualify for the grant, you need to be unemployed (not having any source of income) and not receive any other grants. Should this not be correct, those affected should email SASSA on [email protected].

Read: National Assembly approves Covid-19 tax relief bills for South Africa

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