{"id":840274,"date":"2025-10-17T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840274"},"modified":"2025-10-17T14:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T12:23:03","slug":"sars-issues-final-tax-return-warning-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/840274\/sars-issues-final-tax-return-warning-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"SARS issues urgent tax return warning to 850,000 South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued a final warning to taxpayers, urging them to finalise their tax returns before the close of the 2025 filing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax filing season for non-provisional taxpayers will end on Monday, 20 October 2025<\/strong>, with SARS urging South Africans with outstanding returns to file before then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service said it has “made every effort to simplify and support the filing process”, warning that filing a tax return isn’t voluntary; it is a legal obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except for specific circumstances\u2014such as those earning less than R500,000 a year\u2014South Africans are legally obligated to file their taxes. Failure to do so could result in fines and penalties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just three days left before the deadline, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said taxpayers should take advantage of the remaining days to file their returns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Failure to submit a return by the deadline is a serious offence, and non-compliance can lead to administrative penalties and interest charges,” SARS said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As part of our strategic focus to encourage voluntary compliance and enforce the law, SARS will continue to identify and act against those who do not meet their tax obligations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS said that approximately 80% of taxpayers have filed their taxes before the deadline, including around 6 million who were auto-assessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this also means that a significant number of taxpayers still have not submitted their returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS’s data shows that 7.9 million non-provisional taxpayers have already filed their tax returns, with more than 854,000 still outstanding.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revenue services noted that many taxpayers wait until the last minute to file their returns, hoping to meet the deadline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it warned that rushing to do so invites errors, misjudgements, unnecessary stress, and long queues at SARS branches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Submit returns while there is still time to think clearly and avoid mistakes,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax season 2025 dates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Income Taxpayer<\/th>Open<\/th>Close<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Auto-Assessments<\/td>7 July 2025<\/s><\/td>20 July 2025<\/s><\/td><\/tr>
Individual<\/td>21 July 2025<\/s><\/td>20 October 2025<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Provisional<\/td>21 July 2025<\/s><\/td>19 January 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Trusts<\/td>20 September 2025<\/s><\/td>19 January 2026<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Limited room for mistakes<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
SARS Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The warning from SARS to avoid mistakes comes in the context of a draft interpretation note published by the revenue service this year that makes it clear that it is no longer going easy on errors in filings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tax Consulting SA, many taxpayers assume that any assessment error can be swiftly corrected, but this is not the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provisions in South Africa’s tax laws afforded taxpayers an opportunity to fix genuine, undisputed errors, such as miscalculations or data entry mistakes, without the cost and complexity of a formal dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, SARS has noted that the provision has been misused to reopen substantive disagreements or revive time-barred objections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft interpretation note reinforces that this route applies only to clear, uncontested factual errors and not to interpretive or debatable issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Only obvious, factual mistakes qualify (for correction), and SARS must be ‘satisfied’ before any reduced assessment is made,” Tax Consulting said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS interprets \u201creadily apparent<\/em>\u201d to mean that the error must be visible at face value, capable of being confirmed without extensive verification or interpretive debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cundisputed<\/em>\u201d requires that the mistake is not open to reasonable challenge and is accepted by SARS as factually correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • A taxpayer who inadvertently duplicated a disallowed expense or entered the wrong figure from a certificate, and\/or<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • An incorrect donation amount where the Public Benefit Organisation reissued a corrected section 18A receipt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    By contrast, complex reclassifications or claims requiring interpretive judgment will not qualify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SARS recognises that both errors of commission (doing something wrong) and omission (failing to do something) may qualify, provided they are objectively verifiable and uncontested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, taxpayers cannot use section 93(1)(d) to retroactively adjust prior assessments for later events, such as contract cancellations in subsequent years, as these do not constitute errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tax Consulting noted that timing is also an important factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “SARS may process a reduced assessment under section 93(1)(d) even after the standard three-year prescription period, provided it became aware of the error before the period expired,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Requests must be lodged in writing or via eFiling using forms RRA01 (for individuals) or RRA02 (for companies), with clear reasons and supporting evidence.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SARS has issued a final warning to taxpayers, urging them to finalise their tax returns before the close of the 2025 filing season, or face penalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":756773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[3246],"class_list":["post-840274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840274","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=840274"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840285,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840274\/revisions\/840285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}