{"id":865506,"date":"2026-07-08T09:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865506"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T07:28:42","slug":"warning-to-taxpayers-being-auto-assessed-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/865506\/warning-to-taxpayers-being-auto-assessed-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning to taxpayers being auto-assessed in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tax experts are warning South Africans who are auto-assessed to review their income and remain compliant.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recommendation is particularly relevant for all auto-assessed taxpayers, especially those with freelance work, additional income, or those who made withdrawals under a two-pot retirement system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everest Advisory Services CEO Thys van Zyl warned South Africans who view tax season as an annual administrative exercise to see it instead as an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of their overall financial position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Tax season should not simply be seen as another form that needs to be completed,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Taxpayers who receive auto-assessments should carefully review their income, deductions, medical tax credits, investment income, retirement fund contributions and any two-pot withdrawals before accepting the assessment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl said that the growing use of auto-assessments has simplified the administrative process, but it has not reduced the taxpayer’s responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) systems are far more advanced today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The systems use information submitted by employers, banks, medical schemes, retirement funds, and other third-party data providers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts warn that taxpayers should consider an auto-assessment as a draft rather than a final tax calculation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that if any information is missing or incorrect, the tax return must be amended and resubmitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Van Zyl, many taxpayers mistakenly believe that an auto-assessment is always complete and error-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A simpler process does not mean less responsibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring that all income, deductions and tax information are complete and accurate still rests with the taxpayer,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl said the two-pot retirement system has also introduced a new tax risk that many people may not yet fully understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For many taxpayers, this may be the first tax season in which the full tax implications of withdrawals from the savings component of the two-pot retirement system are reflected in their tax record,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two-pot retirement systems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The biggest misconception is that such a withdrawal is tax-free emergency funding or simply a bonus. That is not the case,” said Van Zyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that withdrawals from the savings component form part of a person’s taxable income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When your annual tax assessment is calculated, your total taxable income may still be higher than expected, which could result in an additional tax liability.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Van Zyl, although the two-pot system can provide temporary financial relief, each withdrawal carries tax implications and may also decrease the future compound growth of retirement savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial services group Alexforbes recently announced that it had processed and paid more than one million savings pot withdrawal claims since 2024, when the two-pot retirement system was introduced in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average amount claimed from each savings pot withdrawal is over R14,000, and the average turnaround time for each payment is five business days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group recorded more than R3.6 billion that was paid to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on behalf of members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexforbes revealed claims data, which indicates that many members are using the savings pot repeatedly across tax years. They reported that 67% of members who claimed in the 2025 tax year also submitted claims in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was revealed that 38% of members who filed claims in the 2026 tax year submitted their claims within the first month of the 2027 tax year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional data indicates that 31% of members who submitted claims in the 2025 tax year have made withdrawals within the past three years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group noted that these trends demonstrate a strong awareness and understanding of the two-pot system among members, highlighting an increasing desire among retirement fund members to access cash regularly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tax experts advise South Africans who are auto-assessed to review their income.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":859622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2074757635862143076","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[23055,25738,3246,23200],"class_list":["post-865506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-auto-assessments","tag-everest-advisory-services","tag-sars","tag-two-pot-retirement-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865506","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865506"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865543,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865506\/revisions\/865543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}