Government

Auto assessment change for taxpayers in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·25 Sep 2026

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has changed the deadline for provisional taxpayers who have been auto-assessed to request reduced or additional assessments.

The deadline for these requests has been extended in line with the provisional taxpayer closing date of 22 January 2027.

However, SARS noted that this extension only applies to provisional taxpayer auto assessments issued on or before 24 November 2026.

The extension comes as SARS slowly expands its auto-assessment processes to more taxpayers across the country.

When they first started rolling out in 2021, auto assessments were limited to standard taxpayers with simpler tax affairs.

However, as the service expanded, more taxpayers got caught in the net.

In 2025, SARS launched a trial to include provisional taxpayers in the system, which was expanded in 2026.

The auto assessment is a tool used by SARS to quickly process taxpayers with simpler and less complex tax affairs, pulling in data from a host of third-party sources.

Non-provisional taxpayers are typically employees who receive income from a single source, usually their employer, which is registered for employee tax (PAYE) and pays monthly taxes.

Provisional taxpayers, however, often have more complex tax affairs, paying their income tax liability in advance and spreading it over the relevant year of assessment.

Provisional taxpayers pay at least two amounts in advance during the year of assessment, which are based on estimated taxable income.

A third payment is optional after the end of the tax year but before SARS issues the assessment.

On assessment, the provisional payments will be offset against the liability for normal tax for the applicable year of assessment.

These taxpayers tend to be self-employed, derive income from multiple sources, and pay based on estimates, making their tax affairs less straightforward than those of non-provisional taxpayers.

Because of these complications, they have historically been ineligible for auto assessment.

Most individual taxpayers would have finalised their tax affairs already, with SARS issuing auto assessment notices in the first two weeks of July.

Those who rejected their auto assessments, or did not receive one, have one more month to finalise their tax returns.

Provisional taxpayers now have until 22 January 2027.

Tax season 2026 dates

Trust filing season has opened

As the individual filing season heads into its final month, the filing season for trusts has just opened.

The 2026 Trust Filing Season opened on 19 September 2026, with trustees and representative taxpayers required to file before 22 January 2027.

These trustees should ensure that the trust is registered for income tax; the trust’s registered details are correct; and all financial records and supporting documents are ready before completing the Income Tax Returns for Trusts (ITR12T).

SARS stressed that trustees remain accountable for the trust’s tax compliance, even when assisted by a tax practitioner.

Several legislative, form, and process changes have been introduced for the Trust Filing Season 2026, including but not limited to the following:

• The information on the “Income Vested Containers” will now be pre-populated with the IT3(t) information on the ITR12T as well as the Personal Income Tax Return (ITR12) and the Company Income Tax Return (ITR14).
• The beneficiary schedules of the ITR12T will also be pre-populated with the information from the IT3(t).
• A new container to determine the impact and analyse the utilisation of the loss limitation per section 25B(4) to (6) of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 is included on the ITR12T.
• The Return Control Table (RCT) is now aligned to indicate that all trusts are required to file returns.
• The questions in relation to the “Beneficial Ownership” container have been enhanced to also cater for founders that are legal entities.
• The “Beneficial Ownership” container has been made optional for Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) trusts.
• The tax practitioner’s email address is now a required field.

SARS has been clamping down on compliance over the past few years, with trusts being a key focus.

The tax service has been honing its enforcement in this field, with tax practitioners warning that there is little room to hide and that trustees would be held personally liable for non-compliance.

Trustees would have already started feeling the sting of SARS’ enforcement, with the imposition of the first admin penalties for tax non-compliance by trusts kicking in from May 2026.