Be careful to check any auto-assessment and be especially careful before you spend any refund paid to you based on that auto-assessment – if it is not correct, you will have to pay back the money, warnsFiling a tax return with the correct information is your responsibility and an auto-assessment sent to you by the South African Revenue Service does not absolve you of that responsibility, tax practitioners say.
If you received an auto-assessment, it is intended to assist you with an already-completed tax return based on information SARS has collected from your employer, bank, and financial institutions. Be prepared for tax season and don't wait until the last minute because some things take time. Here are a few tips:
Nicholas Botha, tax team compliance and processing manager at SA Tax Consulting, says it is important to ensure the information provided by your employer or financial institution is correct and that there isn't any information that SARS should have about your income – or deductions – which it was not able to pick up from financial institutions.
The deadline for provisional taxpayers – those running businesses and earning other income from which tax is not deducted – to file their final tax return for the 2023 year is January 24 2024. Provisional taxpayers will need to file their first return for the current tax year in August this year.Botha says there are a number of reasons the auto-assessment may be incorrect, including:You earn freelance income or make money from a side hustle and you do not receive an IRP5 for this income.