{"id":855948,"date":"2026-04-02T18:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=855948"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:22:02","slug":"ramaphosa-signs-big-tax-changes-for-south-africa-into-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/855948\/ramaphosa-signs-big-tax-changes-for-south-africa-into-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa signs big tax changes for South Africa into law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a new tax law that gives the South African Revenue Service (SARS) greater powers while also providing taxpayers with important avenues for relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2026, which was assented to on 31 March and gazetted on 1 April, makes several changes to how tax disputes, penalties and collections will be handled in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from Tax Consulting SA, which noted that one of the biggest changes\u2014and warnings\u2014for taxpayers comes ahead of the 2026 filing season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxpayers must be mindful not to fail to file their income tax returns or provide relevant information on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should they fail to do so, SARS will issue an estimated assessment,\u00a0<\/strong>under which the purported debt is immediately due and payable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, Tax Consulting SA said that this means the tax debt becomes immediately due and payable, even if the amount is inflated or simply wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The independent tax firm stressed that this is a major risk because SARS has extensive collection powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can attach bank accounts, garnish salaries, and even go after assets before a taxpayer has had a chance to fully prove that the assessment is incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting SA added that this makes it critical for taxpayers not to ignore SARS correspondence or filing deadlines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the new law does offer some protection in these situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key amendment to section 164 of the Tax Administration Act now makes it clear that taxpayers who request, or intend to request, a reduced assessment under section 95(6) can apply for a suspension of payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means taxpayers may be able to temporarily stop SARS from collecting on the disputed amount while the revenue service considers whether the assessment should be lowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn paper, this means that while SARS considers whether to issue a reduced assessment, the taxpayer may secure temporary relief from the immediate threat of enforced collection by SARS,\u201d Tax Consulting SA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other changes to take note of <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another important change is to understatement penalties, which are imposed when SARS believes a taxpayer has underpaid tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the changes, section 222(1) offered relief where the understatement resulted from a \u201cbona fide inadvertent error\u201d\u2014in other words, an innocent mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new amendments do not remove that concept entirely, but they do narrow and clarify how it applies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting SA said the updated law now makes it clear that this type of relief was really intended for cases of \u201csubstantial understatement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are generally lower-level penalties rather than more serious conduct-based offences that can attract penalties of up to 200%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the understatement is linked to taxpayer behaviour that falls under the penalty table in section 223, the taxpayer must pay the understatement penalty in addition to the tax due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, a simple claim of innocent error will no longer be enough on its own in many cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 223(3) has also been amended to provide a clearer path for penalty remission in substantial understatement cases. SARS must remit the penalty if the understatement arose from a bona fide inadvertent error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must also grant relief where the taxpayer fully disclosed the arrangement on the return by the due date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must also have had a favourable independent opinion from a registered tax practitioner, issued by no later than the return deadline, supporting the legal basis of the tax position taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis amendment emphasises full disclosure and professional tax advice as critical factors in penalty remission eligibility,\u201d the firm said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law also includes several other procedural changes. Taxpayers will now generally need to give SARS at least 10 business days\u2019 written notice before launching High Court proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS officials will also be able to inspect certain business premises without prior notice to verify identity, registration and compliance details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also tighter protections around sensitive tax-related information and clearer rules for serving notices on companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a new tax law that gives the South African Revenue Service (SARS) greater powers while also providing taxpayers with important avenues for relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":855953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[853,12796,21727],"class_list":["post-855948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-south-africa","tag-tax-consulting-sa","tag-the-south-african-revenue-service-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855948","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=855948"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856029,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855948\/revisions\/856029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}