The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will embark on a nationwide awareness campaign aimed at getting taxpayers to submit outstanding returns.<\/p>\n
The three-week campaign, which kicks off today, is primarily targeted at businesses for compliance with Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE).<\/p>\n
\u201cInformation on taxpayer obligations, the submission of tax returns, and consequences related to non-submission will also be shared during the campaign. SARS will also issue final demand letters to affected taxpayers,\u201d the revenue collector said.<\/p>\n
Although Tax Season closed on 31 October 2018, taxpayers who missed the deadline are still expected to file all outstanding tax returns. Administrative penalties may be imposed for failure to file. Provisional taxpayers have until 31 January 2018 to file their tax returns via eFiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaxpayers who do not submit their returns will be charged an administrative penalty, which can range from R250 to R16 000 per month, depending on the taxable income of the taxpayer. It is a criminal offence to not submit a return, and continuous non-compliance will lead to criminal prosecution,\u201d said SARS.<\/p>\n
Releasing provisional collection data earlier this month, SARS said it had received 5.7 million returns by October 31. Despite this year\u2019s filing season being shorter, a 2.1% increase in submissions received from the previous year\u2019s submissions had been recorded by SARS.<\/p>\n
A total 96.1% of expected returns from individuals were submitted on time, exceeding last year\u2019s rate of 94%. The returns expected are informed by last year\u2019s submissions and IRP5 information from employers, excluding provisional taxpayers.<\/p>\n