{"id":421174,"date":"2020-07-30T12:41:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T10:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=421174"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:41:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T10:41:13","slug":"the-new-income-tax-season-is-here-dates-and-processes-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/421174\/the-new-income-tax-season-is-here-dates-and-processes-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"The new income tax season is here: dates and processes explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South African Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter has provided an updated breakdown of the 2020 income tax season.<\/p>\n<p>In a media presentation on Thursday (30 July), Kieswetter said that SARS had to readjust the filing system in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on the safety of SARS employees and taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the\u00a0revenue collector is following a system of voluntary compliance and is working under the assumption that most taxpayers are honest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are committed to making this a seamless experience for most taxpayers, while at the same time, we want to make it hard for non-compliant taxpayers who defraud us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is not right that these fraudsters get away, and we would like to see more of them face charges and brought to book.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the revenue collector to step up the pace of modernising its tax systems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We literally want all taxpayers to complete their tax season from the comfort and safety of their own homes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added that all physical tax filers will be encouraged to move digitally, with SARS now offering 30 additional features online.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Filing Season 2020\/21 Media Briefing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/YourTaxMatters?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#YourTaxMatters<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MbHI8GtTye\">https:\/\/t.co\/MbHI8GtTye<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SA Revenue Service (@sarstax) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sarstax\/status\/1288774896890216449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<strong>New tax changes explained<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kieswetter explained that key to this change will be the use of auto-assessments.<\/p>\n<p>These will allow SARS to complete a tax return for more than three million individual taxpayers through data collected from third-parties such as medical aids and insurers.<\/p>\n<p>Individual taxpayers will receive an auto-assessment SMS starting in August. It will direct you to your eFiling or SARS MobiApp profile to review, accept or edit it.<\/p>\n<p>Where there are errors, taxpayers will be given opportunities to correct issues, while the new system will allow data to be processed within seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Kieswetter further pledged that seven out of every ten taxpayers will receive their refunds within 72 hours, provided no other data is required<\/p>\n<p>He added that under the new system, fraudulent taxpayers will face increased punishments, with SARS also &#8216;naming and shaming&#8217; those who commit offences.<\/p>\n<p>Kieswetter said that the individual income tax return filing dates are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 August &#8211; 31 August: Mass launch of the auto-assessment process;<\/li>\n<li>22 October 2020: Closing date for taxpayers who cannot file electronically can do so at a SARS branch by appointment;<\/li>\n<li>16 November 2020: Closing date for taxpayers who file online using Mobi app or e-filing.<\/li>\n<li>29 January 2021: Closing date for provisional taxpayers who file electronically.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/419897\/a-look-at-the-new-proposed-taxes-for-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A look at the new proposed taxes for South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South African Revenue Service commissioner Edward Kieswetter has provided an updated breakdown of the 2020 income tax season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":80497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26,3246],"class_list":["post-421174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421174"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421240,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421174\/revisions\/421240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}