{"id":836232,"date":"2025-09-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836232"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:50:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:50:32","slug":"sars-auto-assessment-warning-for-taxpayers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/836232\/sars-auto-assessment-warning-for-taxpayers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"SARS auto-assessment warning for taxpayers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone who has been auto-assessed by SARS is being warned that they could face penalties, refund reversals, or even audits later in the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the warning from Nicci Courtney-Clarke, COO of TaxTim, who noted that anyone one of the more than\u00a0 than 5.8 million South Africans were auto-assessed by SARS in July could have unknowingly accepted incomplete or incorrect returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtney-Clarke explained that the auto-assessment system was introduced to make tax season easier by reducing the need for manual submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For salaried taxpayers with straightforward financial situations, it usually works well. However, it might not work out the same for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This include professionals siuch as freelancers, landlords, commission earners, or individuals with multiple sources of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtney-Clarke stressed that for these people, blindly accepting the SARS auto-assessment could mean serious financial consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that you purposefully do something wrong. It\u2019s that SARS doesn\u2019t always have your full story,\u201d sid Courtney-Clarke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t check and submit your own tax return for income and\/or expenses which may be left out, you\u2019re taking full responsibility for what\u2019s missing, and SARS will hold you accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtney-Clarke wanred taht just because it looks official doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s complete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf SARS didn\u2019t receive your medical certificates in time, or your RA contributions from July weren\u2019t on file yet, or you earned income from an online gig that a third party didn\u2019t report, it won\u2019t show up on the SARS system. But you\u2019re still expected to declare it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem lies in how SARS builds its assessments. In July alone, the revenue service paid out more than R10.6 billion in refunds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were based only on preloaded data from third parties such as employers, banks, or investment platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that data doesn\u2019t always give a complete picture. Many taxpayers who rushed to accept their refunds may have failed to declare rental income, freelance payments, or capital gains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others may have missed out on legitimate deductions like out-of-pocket medical expenses, travel reimbursements, or contributions to retirement annuities made after SARS\u2019 data cut-off date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Issues faced by SARS this year could lead to complications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Courtney-Clarke noted that this creates a dangerous situation for many taxpayers. \u201cIt might clear at first, and you might even get a refund.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, if SARS identifies a discrepancy later, even a minor one, they can reverse your refund, issue a new assessment, or initiate an audit. That\u2019s not something most people want to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the issue particularly concerning this year is how seamless the process appears. Taxpayers who are auto-assessed simply receive an SMS or email saying they have an assessment (ITA34). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they agree with it, no further action is needed. But if they disagree, they must actively request a return and complete their tax form. The smoothness of the process makes it easy to accept without checking properly, a mistake that can be costly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, problems have been made worse by technical errors with tax directives affecting pension fund data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A glitch in one particular fund\u2019s reporting led to some retirement lump sum transfers being taxed incorrectly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, this caused a false tax debt to appear on auto-assessments, showing lump sums as taxable when they shouldn\u2019t have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TaxTim has already seen cases where people accepted their auto-assessment without changes, only to be contacted by SARS later requesting supporting documents or demanding repayment of additional tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these issues can be corrected, they create unnecessary stress and delays, especially for taxpayers who may have already spent refunds that weren\u2019t rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that taxpayers are not stuck with their auto-assessment. Those who believe their return is incomplete have until 20 October 2025 to submit a corrected tax return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filing now with the right information is the safest way to avoid penalties, interest, or disputes later on. Courtney-Clarke stresseed that being proactive is key. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has been auto-assessed by SARS is being warned that they could face penalties, refund reversals, or even audits later in the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":794596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[23055,3246,853,11683],"class_list":["post-836232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-auto-assessments","tag-sars","tag-south-africa","tag-taxtim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836232","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836805,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836232\/revisions\/836805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}