Finance

Final warning for taxpayers in South Africa

Jonathan Hoyle

 ·23 Oct 2026

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has urged taxpayers with outstanding returns to file before the deadline on Friday, 23 October 2026.

The revenue service warned that late personal income tax return submissions could incur administrative penalties up to R16,000.

“Late submission of Personal Income Tax returns may attract a monthly administrative penalty of R250 to R16,000, depending on taxable income, until the return is submitted,” SARS said.

“Taxpayers unable to pay in full should contact SARS promptly to discuss payment arrangements rather than leave their obligations unaddressed,” it added.

Income tax returns can be submitted either through the SARS MobiApp or on eFiling before the 23 October deadline.

SARS commissioner Johnstone Makhubu thanked those who had submitted returns before the deadline and urged those with outstanding documents to file them before it is too late.

“Every compliant taxpayer helps our country function and develop,” he said. “We thank the millions who have fulfilled their obligations and urge those who still need to file to act now.”

For the 2026 tax season, SARS expanded its auto-assessment system, processing 6.9 million returns using this method.

This was 20% higher than the previous tax season, and the service was also extended to select provisional taxpayers for the first time.

Between 1 July and 19 October, SARS said it had paid over R33 million in returns to taxpayers, with 85% of payments made within 72 hours.

The revenue service said this was possible through a combination of expanding its auto assessments, improving its eFiling website, and increasing the use of third-party data.

“Expanding Auto Assessments shows how better use of data can simplify taxpayers’ interactions with SARS,” Makhubu said.

“The speed of processing legitimate refunds is a key measure of effective tax administration.”

The service said these efforts had improved voluntary compliance, which has been a cornerstone of its efforts to improve revenue collection.

“The aim is to make compliance easy and deliberate non-compliance difficult and costly,” SARS explained.

Makhubu said that tax administration “goes beyond collecting what is lawfully due”.

“Paying legitimate refunds efficiently is equally important to support taxpayers in a difficult economic environment and give them certainty,” he said.

“Our modernisation programme aims to improve both collection and refunds while safeguarding the integrity of the tax system.”

Tax season 2026 dates

Sliding-scale late tax returns

SARS uses a dual system of fixed-rate administrative penalties and interest charges, meaning that missing a deadline can lead to a penalty that escalates over time.

If an income-tax return is submitted after the end of the filing season, administrative penalties can be imposed and can increase monthly.

Notably, these penalties are not one-off and can be repeated monthly until the missing tax return is submitted or until the limit is reached.

The limit on monthly penalties is up to 35 months if SARS has the taxpayer’s address, and 47 months if the address is outdated.

According to SARS, penalties are based on income on a sliding scale, as follows: