EP11: Deadline Pressure & Penalty Risk: Navigating SARS With Confidence

In this Rev Room episode, Wayne and Noloyiso from the BizRev tax team unpack what every South African business owner needs to know for the 2025 tax season. With SARS reducing the filing window by over 50 days and tightening assessment timelines, the margin for error is shrinking. They break down the difference between auto assessments and manual submissions, what documents you must have on hand, and the best practices to avoid penalties, delays, or unnecessary stress. Whether you’re a first-time filer or a seasoned entrepreneur, this episode is your quick-start guide to staying compliant, informed, and in control.

✅ Key Takeaways

1. The Filing Window is Shorter - Act Early - SARS has cut the filing season from 146 to just 92 days. Waiting too long could cost you in penalties and interest.
2. Auto-Assessments Aren’t Foolproof - Don’t blindly accept SARS’ auto assessment. Cross-check all income and expense claims especially medical costs, rental income, and travel allowances.
3. Documentation is Your Defense - Keep all supporting documents for at least five years. If you’re selected for verification or audit, being organized can save you thousands.

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Transcript

welcome everyone
today we're in the Rev room with Nolu Lesu
who is our who is an integral part of our tax team Nolu
um tax season is upon us
are you looking forward to it
what are your expectations for this year hello Wayne
the tax season opens
for auto assessments and the personal
individual tax filings and um
today we're gonna be covering the filing period
together with auto assessments
and the must have documents when you do your
tax returns
yes okay
give us a quick recap nolo on on what
what what are the dates for the filing season for 2025
okay the auto assessments open from the 7
up until July 20th, 2025
and the normal individual filing season
starts from the 21st up until October 20th, 2025
the provisional taxpayers open from July 21st
up until January 19th, 2026
and the trust fighting season is from September 19th
up until January 19th, 2026 way okay yes
so we are ready to start
it's a couple of days before the season starts yes
we obviously getting a lot of inquiries already
but we
we are gear to start the process basically on Monday
we ready to go yes
normally one of the things I just want to bring up
and I'm actually a numbers type of guy
but okay
when we go back five years and we look at the uh
tax season in 2021
the season started on the first of July
and ended on the 23rd of November yes
which gave us roughly about um
146 days to to file your tax returns
it has every year saz is reducing the time period
and now
the time period has gone from 146 days down to 92 days
wow they've reduced the number of days available by 40
54 days so
they're creeping this time period shorter and shorter
and shorter and
and taxpayers have to be ready
yes they are
otherwise we're going to run into problems
and that's our source
also generates additional income
in terms of interest and penalties
so we have to hit the ground running and get
get our tax returns in as soon as possible
yes ma'am
what I want to cover also is the um two
two areas I want to just um
look at the auto assessments okay okay
um because sources is always saying
they're increasing the auto assessments
every year the
the the number of auto assessments they're dishing out
we're not seeing that you know
we've
we've had very few auto assessments in our business
uh we haven't had a lot
so I don't see that number increasing dramatically
but it's a it's a number that source doesn't
doesn't release it yes
they don't share the number
they don't give that information to us
you know they don't give it to anyone
they say well
it's just a mechanism to get returns in
but we're not seeing a dramatic
increase in auto assessments
at all in the
in the
in the three years they've actually introduced this
so I'm not too sure whether it's working or not um
in terms of what are the auto assessments
so auto assessments is based
on information received by SARS
so
it's third party information that's available to SARS
and this can come in many forms from your R P 5
from your R t 3 BS uh
information that's been given to SARS okay
can I ask a question okay
uh what happens when you become auto assess
what is there to do for a taxpayer
okay so what you need to do
you need to open your auto assessment yes
check the numbers check the income
look at the the expenses they've allowed
make sure the income is correct
there's no other income that you've received
that's not being given to SARS
if there's expenses that that you have incurred
especially if you have a travel allowance
SARS won't have that information okay
you need to put that information in
if you've incurred large medical bills
that haven't been submitted to the medical aid
SARS hasn't got that
so you need to look at it both from an income
and the expenses perspective okay
and what happens when you don't agree
what with what SARS says okay
so what actually happens if you don't agree
you've got until the end of the filing season
so you've got until the 20th of October okay
to to actually pull the return back and
and ask for a correction okay
but it's better to do it as soon as possible
and get the process over don't leave it too late
cause other things will come up
and then you'll forget about it
and then it becomes an issue
cause you're gonna incur penalties and interest
but so the and the way that SARS do it
is they actually look at it now
they say fine
we can do an auto assessment if there's a refund
they pay the refund
and then once if you ask for a correction
you might have to pay in a bit of money
depending on whether you put additional income in
or there might be additional refund for you
but source pays upfront and you've got a
you've got three months
or basically till the middle of
October to resubmit your return
but our recommendation is do it sooner
get sores off your back as soon as possible alright
and another thing that you
you as a taxpayer need to know
is that you need to have all the required documents
if you're about to pull a return
you need the supporting documents
yes and then you need to do it immediately
so that it can be done
and if there's any amount that needs to be paid
pay the amount to avoid penalties and interest yeah
yes one thing I saw in SA
and I don't quite sure whether it's right or not
but we'll see once we start getting the returns
back in the past you've always had 21 business days
I've seen the SA when I went onto the e filing site
it now talks about 21 days
so SARS hasn't said anything
but we'll we'll quickly see next year
whether they've changed the 21 business days to
21 days which is less
which is a difference yes
it's a gain it's a tightening of the time frame
SARS wants that information back as soon as possible
yes um
but some of the uh
give us some of the best practices in terms of returns
so in terms of doing your tax returns okay
the first thing that you need to understand
is that you do not have to agree with something
that is incorrect with SAZ
you have to have the supporting documents
and SARS
requires you to keep those documents for five years
so if you're about to to dispute something
you need supporting documents
and then you need to build trust with SAS
you need to be open
even if it's not gonna favour you as a taxpayer
you need to be open whether you've received income
which will make you pay tax
you need to do that and you need to be accurate
and you need to be on time with filing your returns
and then you need to pay your debts yeah
I think it's important for everyone yes
that's what the country runs on um
but I think if we quickly look at
some of the must have documents that we
that we should have in our possession
before we submit our return
one we have the um the normal it IRP fives
we have the IRT 3 A's from financial institutions
for annuities we have interest which is the IRT 3 b
you get that from your bank
it's available online we have the medical
tax certificates that you get from your
medical fund
you can also ask them or download the tax summary
which then gives you details of all the expenses you
in terms of if you are running a
a business obviously
the profit or loss
and the supporting documents to support the income
and expenses
if you are renting your home or a room out
which is common in today's world
all the income
rental agreement expenses that go with that
if you have a retirement annuity
that the retirement annuity certificate
that the financial institution sent to you
basically all those documents
you pretty much have in your possession already
have them available
so if SARS does do a audit or verification
they can quickly be made available to SARS yes
if we look at a quick summary
in terms of the filing season
we are now starting basically in 2
3 days time what would you
what would be your Q2 key points for people that
going into the tax season
okay uh
please check your return
if you agree with whatever is in there
the income the deduction
have your supporting documents
because you're gonna need them
if you need to dispute anything
or you are selected for verification
yes and be honest with us
be transparent please be honest with us
and then you're going to have nothing to worry about
thank you for tuning into the Rev room
hopefully
you've taken out some points from our discussion
and we'll see you again soon thank you very much