Important information for anyone who was auto-assessed by SARS in South Africa
South Africans who received an automatic tax assessment from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) this month can now submit a corrected tax return if they discover that any information is missing or incorrect.
From 13 July, taxpayers who were auto-assessed can amend their returns, and tax experts warn that one of the easiest mistakes to overlook could cost them valuable deductions.
According to Pedri Reyneke, CEO of Multilink Financial Services, retirement annuity (RA) contributions are among the most commonly missed items because they often depend on information from previous tax years being correctly carried forward.
SARS has already auto-assessed more than 1.9 million taxpayers during this filing season and has paid around R8 billion in refunds within 72 hours. More than six million assessments are expected in total.
The rapid turnaround has been made possible by improvements to SARS’ systems and more complete information received from employers, medical schemes and retirement funds.
However, Reyneke warned that faster processing does not necessarily mean every assessment is complete.
“SARS is processing refunds faster than ever, which raises the bar for what taxpayers assume has already been captured correctly and verified on their behalf,” he said.
“However, the system is only able to interpret data it has been provided, and nothing beyond that.”
He explained that retirement annuity deductions are particularly vulnerable to being omitted, especially where contributions were made through a provider, in a different tax year, or outside the normal payroll process.
Under Section 11F of the Income Tax Act, retirement annuity contributions are deductible up to 27.5% of a taxpayer’s remuneration or taxable income.
From 1 March 2026, applying to the 2026/27 tax year, the maximum annual deduction increased from R350,000 to R430,000.
If contributions exceed the annual limit, the excess is automatically carried forward to the following tax year and should appear on the taxpayer’s ITA34 notice of assessment.
Annuity deductions are not the only area to check
If the current assessment does not correctly link back to an excess contribution from a previous year, that deduction may simply disappear from the assessment without any obvious indication that something is missing.
“Most people treat their retirement annuity as something they set up once and never look at again,” Reyneke said.
“The notice of assessment is not designed to automatically detect a missing figure. The only person checking for any discrepancies is the taxpayer interpreting the document, or an advisor a client trusts to pick up such errors.”
He recommends that taxpayers who have changed jobs, switched retirement annuity providers or made contributions outside standard payroll deductions carefully review their assessments before accepting them.
Reyneke stressed that taxpayers should check whether excess contributions from previous years have been carried forward correctly.
If a figure is missing or appears unfamiliar, he said taxpayers should investigate before accepting the assessment or allowing the acceptance period to expire.
“You can still submit a corrected return through eFiling until 23 October 2026, even after accepting an assessment,” he said.
“Checking your own numbers is the same discipline you should apply to any document with your name and your money attached to it.” Retirement annuity deductions are not the only area that may require attention.
Taxpayers should also verify whether home office expenses, travel claims based on a logbook, rental income and freelance earnings have been correctly declared, as these are generally not captured through SARS’ third-party data sources.
Loading ...