FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON TAX RETURNS

• Tax seasons opens on 1 September 2020 for all individual taxpayers.
• However, a significant number of individual taxpayers will be auto-assessed before 1 September 2020. These taxpayers, we will have an opportunity to manually file their returns should they not agree to the auto-assessment.

• Taxpayers who cannot file their returns electronically will have up to 22 October 2020 to submit their tax returns at the branch.
• Taxpayers will have up to 16 November 2020 to file their tax returns online.
• The deadline for electronic filing for provisional taxpayers is extended to 29 January 2020

The following information is needed –

• IRP5 employee tax certificate;
• IT3(b) certificate of interest from financial institutions;
• Retirement annuity fund or pension fund contribution certificate:
• Medical Aid certificate of contributions; and
• Travel logbook

Further to the above, any additional income received by the taxpayer during the tax period must be declared on the return.

You are not required to file a tax return if your income for the tax year is not above the R500 000 threshold and you meet the following requirements:

• Your remuneration is paid from one employer;
• You have no car or travel allowance, a company car fringe benefit, which is considered as additional income;
• Your employees tax (PAYE) has been deducted or withheld; and
• You did not earn any other additional income such as rentals, dividends, interest, etc.

The odds are high for tax returns to be flagged by SARS related tax periods where taxpayers is required to submit a return and a return was not submit, i.e. periods where the taxpayer does not meet all the requirements of the  threshold.

SARS takes up to 7 business days to process a refund to verified South African banking accounts.

• A taxpayer is a South African tax resident either ordinarily or by meeting physical presence test.
• Taxpayer’s circumstances and history will have to be assessed preferably by a tax professional against the criteria’s  for taxpayer to submit as a South African resident

South African tax residents are taxed on their world-wide income and as such, foreign income earned (including fringe benefits and bonuses) by a South African tax resident must be declared to SARS for tax purposes. We conduct an expatriate tax calculation service to help SA tax residents determine their potential tax liability.

Yes, South African tax residents working for South Africa employers do qualify for the foreign income exemption if they render their services outside the Republic. Please note that the Section 10(1((o)(ii) exemption is now capped at R1.25 million.

Yes, in order to benefit from the exemption, you are still required to declare your foreign employment income and thereafter claim the exemption accordingly.

Yes, even though you have paid taxes abroad in respect of your income earned, your income will still be subject to South Africa tax. It is important to note that taxpayers who are subject to double taxation may take advantage of the available South African tax treaties in order to avoid double taxation.

Non-residents with active tax reference number will still be required to submit a tax return even where you have not earned South African sourced income. Such return will be a zero return. The obligation to submit a return will fall away where you have no South African sourced income and have deregistered your tax number.

Where there is a double taxation agreement signed between South Africa and the State which you are a tax resident, the double taxation agreement will determine which country has taxing rights in respect of the relevant income earned. Where both South Africa and the State in which you are a tax resident have taxing rights, you will need to claim foreign tax credits from that State in respect of the taxes already paid in South Africa.

The double taxation agreement between South Africa and the State in which you are a tax resident will ascertain which country has taxing rights in respect of such income. Where the double taxation agreement is silent on the matter or there is no double taxation agreement between the two countries, you would need to claim foreign tax credits in respect of the taxes already paid in South Africa in the State in which you are a tax resident.

It is much quicker for SARS to verify and process refunds to a South African account than it is for a foreign bank account.