As the 2025 filing season unfolds, taxpayers should be reminded that when the South African Revenue Service (SARS) issues an estimated assessment, often because a taxpayer has not filed a return or failed to provide information on time, the debt is immediately due and payable.
André Daniels
Head of Tax Controversy & Dispute Resolution
With SARS’ far-reaching legal powers, it can in such cases, move swiftly to attach taxpayers’ bank accounts, garnish salaries, and attach assets, all before the taxpayer has had a chance to prove that the estimated assessment is excessive or even incorrect. In a welcome development, the 2025 Draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill (2025 Draft TALAB), published on 16 August 2025 for comment, proposes a crucial change that may bring welcome temporary relief.
A measure of temporary relief
The 2025 Draft TALAB attempts to offer a measure of relief by amending section 164 of the Tax Administration Act, Act No. 28 of 2011 (TAA). For the first time, the law will expressly recognise that a taxpayer who requests a reduced assessment under section 95(6) of the TAA, may apply for a suspension of payment of the tax charged in terms of the assessment based on an estimate until SARS has made a decision as to whether a reduced assessment will be issued. On paper, this means that while SARS considers whether to issue a corrected assessment, the taxpayer may secure temporary relief from the immediate threat of enforced collection by SARS.
Taxpayers should not be lulled into thinking this represents a safeguard. A suspension of payment is not a right, it is a privilege granted at SARS’ discretion, and even if granted, it can be revoked at any time if SARS believes collection is at risk. In the meantime, interest and penalties continue to mount.
Should SARS decide not to issue a reduced assessment, the taxpayer is left facing not only the original estimated liability but also the compounded financial burden that has accrued during the suspension period, until such time as a subsequent objection is filed and SARS allows same.
SARS enforcement patterns
SARS’ recent enforcement patterns show an unmistakable trend: aggressive and unrelenting pursuit of outstanding debts. Businesses and individuals alike have experienced overnight account sweeps, surprise third-party appointments on clients or employers, and asset attachments that can cripple operations. For many, this happens while they are still scrambling to file the correct return or supply supporting documentation. The proposed amendment does nothing to slow this machinery, it simply clarifies that a taxpayer may apply for suspension while caught in its gears.
This makes the risks of non-compliance starker than ever. A missed filing deadline or a delay in providing requested information does not only invite an estimated assessment: it can trigger a chain of collection actions that devastates cash flow and destroys financial stability. Once SARS is in pursuit, the taxpayer is left playing catch-up, relying on a request for suspension of payment as a desperate shield as a last line of defence that may or may not hold fast.
The message moving forward
Compliance is not merely a regulatory requirement; it is a practical survival strategy. The proposed amendment to section 164 should not be read as comfort, but as confirmation that SARS’ collection net tightens swiftly and ruthlessly.
Taxpayers who gamble with deadlines, even briefly, risk financial ruin at the hands of an authority whose mandate is to collect at all costs. The safest course is to file on time, file accurately, and avoid the nightmare of facing an estimated assessment backed by SARS’ full enforcement arsenal.
