Johannesburg - South African taxpayers submitted 1 million tax returns in 21 days, said the SA Revenue Service yesterday.
These were all filed from the launch of the 2016 tax season on July 1 until 5pm last Friday.
Of the submissions, 611 453 (about 60 percent) came through via eFiling and 404 603 (about 40 percent) through a Sars branch, said Sars.
“Sars made a commitment to making the filing of a tax return an easy experience. Since the start of the tax season, we have emphasised the use of eFiling as it is the quickest, easiest way to submit a return, and is available 24 hours,” said Sars commissioner Tom Moyane.
“Taxpayers no longer have to stand in long queues. We have also improved supporting tools such as Help-You-eFile.
“These figures show that taxpayers are responding positively to the changes and are working with Sars to collect the required revenue to meet South Africa’s development agenda.”
Moyane thanked taxpayers who had submitted their returns early.
“This achievement confirms that South African taxpayers are compliant and are committed to working with Sars. On behalf of the more than 14 000 Sars staff, we would like to thank taxpayers for their willingness to meet their tax obligations and responsibilities,” he said.
“Paying tax is a cool thing to do as it is the highest form of patriotism.”
Sars is making it easier for taxpayers to submit returns by:
* Extending contact centre operating hours during weekdays and operating on weekends during July.
* Adding a call-back function to the contact centre, so taxpayers don’t have to wait or hang up.
* Improving the Help-You-eFile facility, which allows a taxpayer to contact a Sars contact centre agent who will browse the eFiling site with the taxpayer to provide help, while the taxpayer’s confidential information remains unseen and secure.
Not everyone needs to submit an income tax return.
The following taxpayers don’t have to file returns: those whose total salary for the year is less than R350 000, and who receive income from only one employer for the full tax year, and have no other income such as a car allowance, business income, taxable interest or rent or income from another job, and don’t need to claim tax deductions for medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions and travel expenses.
Sars warned against scams, saying that their staff would never ask taxpayers for their banking or personal details in any communication by post, email, phone or SMS, and Sars would not send taxpayers any hyperlinks to other websites.
There are no links to any banks on the Sars website.
Last year 5.94 million submissions were submitted to Sars.
More than 90 percent of taxpayers filed before the deadline. Of those returns filed, 4.2 million were from individuals for the 2015 tax year and 1.69 million were outstanding returns from the year before.
A total of 99.96 percent of those returns were filed electronically, either via eFiling (about 52 percent of them), or through electronically assisted filing at a Sars branch or mobile tax unit.
Fewer than 2 000 returns - 0.04 percent of the total returns - were filed manually.
The good news for taxpayers is that more than 95 percent of all returns submitted were assessed within three seconds and more than 99 percent within 24 hours.
Even better news for compliant taxpayers is that Sars paid out 1.82 million refunds to the value of R15 billion, and more than 95 percent of these refunds were paid within 72 hours.
Contacts
* Call the Sars Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline at 080 000 2870.
* Call the Sars Contact Centre at 080 000 7277.
Tax return deadlines
* The deadline for taxpayers who submit their tax returns manually by post or by dropping them off in a Sars drop box is September 23.
* The deadline for all non-provisional taxpayers via eFiling or at a branch is November 25.
* Non-provisional taxpayers are the majority of employed individuals who submit a tax return and who earn an income from one or more employer.
* The deadline for provisional taxpayers who submit returns via eFiling is January 31 next year.
* Provisional taxpayers form a much smaller segment of the tax base and are those individuals with other forms of income like investment income, income from business activities, rental income and royalties income or who are directors of companies.
THE STAR