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For years, South Africa’s voluntary disclosure programme (VDP) has allowed taxpayers to correct past defaults on Income Tax, Value-Added Tax (VAT), Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), and other mainstream taxes under the Tax Administration Act, No. 28 of 2011 (TAA). Often some of the riskiest and most heavily penalised areas of non-compliance, being Customs and Excise, were left outside the framework. That gap is finally closing.

South Africans who have worked abroad and accumulated foreign retirement funds, or foreign nationals who become South African tax residents, need to urgently be aware that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) now wants taxing rights on their foreign retirement funds. This proposed amendment is set to come into effect on 1 March 2026.

In the complex world of payroll, many employers have historically taken a head-in-the-sand approach, particularly when it comes to the taxation of employee benefits. If you are not 100% confident that every fringe benefit in your payroll is correctly taxed, now is the time to act, as the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is clamping down on all forms of tax non-compliance.

The fact that millions of South African taxpayers withdrew R43 billion from their accessible retirement savings under the Two-Pot System in the previous tax year, and many are already dipping in again this year, clearly shows that employees need real-time financial relief.

A recent High Court decision should serve as a cautionary tale for any taxpayer who underestimates the procedural rigor required when challenging the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”).