SARS warns of critical tax deadline this week

Monday (20 January 2025) marks the last day for provisional taxpayers and trusts to settle their tax matters.
For the 2024 tax filing season, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) made a significant change for trusts, giving them their own filing window.
Previously, filing for trusts aligned with individual taxpayers, but multiple compliance changes in the last year or so, with SARS introducing enhanced compliance requirements to increase transparency and ensure that trusts are used for legitimate purposes.
Given the changes and the new requirements, the Revenue Service gave trusts a more focused filing period, including more time to settle their tax affairs.
As such, the window for trusts aligned with that of provisional taxpayers, which closes on 20 January 2025.
Tax Season 2024 | Start date | End date |
Individual Taxpayers (Non-Provisional) | ||
Provisional Taxpayers | 20 January 2025 | |
Trusts | 20 January 2025 |
SARS said that trustees are legally obliged to submit an account of the Trust’s financial activities, including accurate tax returns.
The taxman has been threatening for years to come down harder on trusts, with warnings escalating after South Africa was placed on the Financal Action Task Force’s greylist.
Tax experts warned at recent webinar that SARS is expected to start retroactively imposing harsh administrative penalties for trusts that do not file tax returns. This will come after the ‘grace’ the revenue service has given these groups by extending their filing window in 2024
According to tax and accounting services group, the CPD Consortium, it has been a requirement for trusts to submit tax returns for over two decades – meaning hefty fines could be heading the way of those who have been lax or nonchalant about their tax affairs.
And with SARS’ renewed focus on compliance, trustees are directly in the firing line. This includes so-called ‘dormant’ or inactive trusts. The consortium noted that SARS doesn’t recognise such a thing as a dormant trust, as a “nil return does not equate to dormancy if any income, expenses or liabilities exist”.
“SARS lays the tax compliance responsibility fully at the feet of trustees,” it said, adding that anyone leaving it to the last minute is already at risk, as any delays or inaccuracies in filing could lead to further penalties.
The group said that SARS will not impose penalties for the current year of assessment for non-submission of required trust IT3(t) returns, “but submission is strongly encouraged to establish a compliant track record”.
Many tax experts are looking beyond April 2025 as the time the taxman’s grace comes to an end and starts getting down to business with this segment.
Trustees that are preparing for a last-minute filing can submit their returns electronically through SARS eFiling (sarsefiling.co.za) or manually at the nearest SARS branch by appointment only.
Trusts have been reminded to bring all required documents and information. This includes:
Provisional taxpayers
Provisional taxpayers will also see the window close for their tax returns on 20 January.
A provisional taxpayer is any person who receives income other than remuneration. Most salary earners are, therefore, non-provisional taxpayers if they have no other sources of income.
According to the 2023/24 tax statistics, South Africa currently has over 500,000 provisional taxpayers, who contributed around R110 billion to the tax haul last year (assessed).
These taxpayers have more complicated tax deadlines to keep track of. Notably, the provisional tax deadline this week should not be confused with the deadlines for provisional tax payments.
Provisional taxpayers typically submit two provisional tax returns during the tax year and a final tax return with actual figures after the tax year ends.
A third payment is optional after the end of the tax year, but before the issuing of the assessment by SARS.
The deadline on Monday, 20 January 2025, is the deadline for the final provisional tax window for the 2023/24 tax year.
For the 2024/25 tax year, provisional taxpayers would have already submitted their first provisional tax payment by 31 August 2024, where half the total estimated tax for the full year was to be paid.
The second payment will be due before midnight on 28 February 2025.
- 31 August 2024 – 2024/25 Provisional tax payment 1 (Current year)
- 20 January 2025 – 2023/24 Provisional tax deadline (Previous year)
- 29 February 2025 – 2024/25 Provisional tax payment 2 (Current year)
- January 2026 – 2024/25 Provisional tax deadline (Current year)
Any provisional taxpayers who have not yet completed their return for the year can still do so through various channels:
Taxpayers who fail to submit their tax returns before the deadline will face penalties, which can accumulate and will accumulate the longer their tax affairs remain outstanding.
The penalties can range from R250 to R16,000 per month, depending on the taxpayer’s circumstances and the number of returns outstanding.