Big changes to SARS payments – what you need to know
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has made amendments to its payment processes which come into effect from Monday, 24 July 2023.
According to SARS, the key changes involve new public beneficiaries that must be referenced when making external payments to the taxman, as well as removing cash deposits as an option for SARS Customs and Excise clients.
With the latter, these clients are encouraged to make payments via EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) into the SARS public beneficiaries listed on the banking platform or eFiling.
“Customs and Excise clients who are required to declare goods electronically must, whether or not registered for deferment of payment of duty, use the SARS eFiling service when making a payment to SARS,” it said.
“Clients to whom such rules do not apply may utilise the alternative payment channels of internet
banking, at a branch of an approved bank or at dedicated Taxpayer Service.”
The revenue service published a document detailing the amended payment rules, including which banks can be used to make payments.
EFiling payments
EFiling has become the quickest and easiest way to resolve any payment needs with SARS. However, not all banks are supported. Banks like Discovery Bank, Bank Zero or TymeBank are not supported on the platform.
The following banks are suitable for eFiling payments:
- Absa
- Al Baraka Bank
- Bidvest Bank
- Capitec
- Citibank
- FNB
- HBZ Bank Ltd
- HSBC
- Investec
- Nedbank
- SASFIN Bank
- Standard Bank
- Standard Chartered Bank
SARS said that a payment request is automatically sent by eFiling presented by SARS to the bank once the client has released the payment on the platform.
The client – the payer – will have to log into their banking platform to authorise the payment so that funds can be transferred to SARS.
The revenue service warned that the payment is not effected until this authorisation is done, and skipping this step could result in delayed and late payments which could result in penalties.
EFT payments
If taxpayers opt not to use the eFiling platform for payments, the next easiest way is through EFT from their banking platforms.
For EFT payments, SARS said that its bank account numbers have now been replaced with unique beneficiary account IDs.
Payments can be made via EFT to the relevant SARS beneficiaries listed on various banking platforms.
SARS beneficiary IDs are listed as public beneficiaries on the following banking platforms:
- Absa
- Al Baraka Bank
- Access Bank South Africa
- Capitec Bank
- FNB
- HSBC
- Investec
- JP Morgan
- Nedbank
- Standard Bank
- Discovery Bank
- Grindrod Bank
The following table lists the SARS beneficiary account IDs and the tax types that apply:
| ID | Tax to be paid to the ID |
| SARS-APT | Air Passenger Tax (Only via Absa, FNB, Standard Bank and Nedbank) |
| SARS-CUS | Customs |
| SARS-EXC | Excise |
| SARS-ITA | Income Tax (Assessed), Administrative Penalties |
| SARS-PAYE | Employee Tazes (PAYE, UIF, SDL) |
| SARS-PROV | Provisional Tax, Turnover Tax |
| SARS-VAT | VAT, Diesel |
| SARS-WHT | Secondary Tax on Companies, Dividends Tax |
SARS noted that when using the EFT payments, the payment will only be accepted if the correct 19-digit payment reference number (PRN) is used. The unique PRN can be obtained on the relevant SARS payment form.
SARS stressed that it would only recognise a payment once received into the SARS bank account.
“Any payment received into the SARS bank account after the due date will be regarded as a late payment,” it said.
“Taxpayers must ensure that payment is made before the cut-off time of the relative bank product used to ensure that funds will reflect in time on the SARS bank account.”
The full document, which includes information on branch payments and foreign payments, can be found below.
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