Guide on How RCBs can Manage Tax Practitioner Members on eFiling

Summary

The maintenance of tax practitioner member details and registration statuses are part of the responsibilities of the Recognised Controlling Bodies (RCBs) for the implementation of the Tax administration Act. This webpage details how representatives of RCBs can activate the RCB functionality on eFiling, add users to the RCB eFiling profile and submit new tax practitioner member details to SARS.

How to Register on eFiling

eFiling is a digital platform which allows users to comply with their various tax responsibilities. Controlling Bodies are required, once recognised by SARS as RCBs, to register on eFiling. This is important to ensure the use of eFiling is effective for the function that they are to perform.

Ensure that the following eFiling registration processes have been completed:

The RCB’s portfolio has been registered as an organisation on eFiling.
The registered representative of the RCB has been activated on the RCB’s organisation portfolio.
Where a tax practitioner is handling the tax affairs on behalf of the RCB, he/she has been activated on the Tax Practitioner Portfolio.

For more information on how to register on eFiling, kindly refer to the eFiling registration guide available on the SARS website.

How to Activate the RCB Functionality on eFiling

SARS will notify the Controlling Body, once it has been recognised. Additionally, SARS will also update its system, so that the RCB can access the RCB functionality on eFiling

Once SARS has updated its systems by including the Controlling Body on the RCB lists, proceed by activating the RCB functionality on eFiling

Note that the RCB may request SARS to confirm whether they have been added to the RCB list using the following mailbox: [email protected]

To activate the RCB functionality, proceed as follows:

Log on to eFiling
On the Landing page.
- Select User displayed as part of the main menu
- Select User on the left menu
- Select Change Details

The Change Details page will be displayed

On the Change Details page, complete the following details of the Registered Representative of the organisation:

Select the applicable Identification Type from the drop-down menu
Complete the ID Number
Complete the Surname
Once the details have been completed, click on Update User Rights.

This will display the User Roles page

On the page, scroll down and select Controlling Body Tax Practitioner Management

Once selected, click on Continue

This will display the User Summary page.

Take note of the listed descriptions of the roles selected.

Note the following:

The user roles listed are consistent with the use or function that the Controlling Body will use on eFiling. These are activated by SARS. If the Controlling Body is not a Recognised Controlling Body, the option of “Controlling Body Tax Practitioner Management” will not be displayed as part of the user roles.

Once noted, click on Continue

The Change Details page will be displayed with the completed details.

How to Add Users to the RCB eFiling Profile

How to add a user

Note the following:

Only the registered representative/tax practitioner can add eFiling users to the profile
The user being added to the RCB eFiling profile must have an existing eFiling profile

To add users, proceed as follows:

On the Landing page, select User displayed on the main menu
Select User displayed on the left menu
Select Invite User

The Invite User screen will be displayed

Complete the following information regarding the user you wish to add to the RCB profile
- Select the applicable Identification Type

- Complete the ID Number/Passport number
- Complete the Surname

Click on Invite

The User Rights/ User Groups will be displayed

Select the applicable user rights for the user
Select Controlling Body Tax Practitioner Management

Click on Continue

The User Summary screen will be displayed

Click on Continue

The Change Details screen will be displayed showing the information of the invited user.

Notify the user that they have been invited to the profile

An email and SMS invite notification will be sent through to the invited user.

How a user accepts an invitation

To accept an invitation, proceed as follows:

On the Landing page
Click on My Profile
Select Portfolio Management

Scroll down to User Invitation(s)

On the applicable Portfolio Name

Click on Accept
A One-Time Pin will be sent

- Complete the OTP number
  - Click on Submit
- Once completed correctly, the following pop-up message will be displayed.

The message displayed indicates that the user has been linked to the portfolio of the RCB.

Note the following:

An email and SMS invite notification will be sent through to the user.
Where the invited user has not responded by accepting the invitation, as detailed on this section, within 5 working days, the invitation will be cancelled.

How to view users

To view all the users linked to the RCB portfolio, proceed as follows:

On the Landing page
Click on User displayed on the main menu
Click on User displayed on the left menu
Select My Administrators
- This will display the Admin Users screen

Note that only the tax practitioner or the registered representative profile can view the added users

How to delete a user

To delete the applicable user, proceed as follows:

Select the applicable Tax User to be deleted from the drop-down list beside Organisation

Select User
Select Delete User

The Delete User screen will be displayed

Scroll down and click on Delete Use

How to Submit your Tax Practitioner Member Details on eFiling

Once the Controlling Body Tax Practitioner Function has been activated on eFiling, the RCB should then submit its tax practitioner member details.

How to submit new individual tax practitioner details

To add a new member (tax practitioner), proceed as follows:

Click on Services displayed on the main menu
Click on Tax practitioner Controlling Body displayed on the left menu

The Maintain Tax Practitioner Details page will be displayed

Complete the tax practitioner’s Tax Reference Number

The system will notify the user that there is no link with the Controlling Body by displaying the following message:

Proceed by clicking on Continue

The Maintain Members page will be displayed

Complete all the required information relating to the new tax practitioner.
Once all the fields have been completed, click on Submit at the bottom of the page.

Note the following when completing the Maintain Members Page

Where the Tax Reference Number completed is incorrect, an error message will be displayed.
Where the completed Tax Reference Number already forms part of the SARS database, however it has not been linked to the Recognised Controlling body, a blank page will be displayed.
- Proceed by completing the new tax practitioner details.
All fields of the new tax practitioner must be captured.

How to Manage your Tax Practitioner Members on eFiling

How to view notices of a tax practitioner

At any given time, SARS may issue a notice regarding the continuous non-compliance of Controlling Body’s individual tax practitioner members. These notices, when received will be stored under the “Notices” sub menu as indicated in the following screen.

To view tax practitioner members, proceed as follows:

Click on Services
Click on Tax Practitioner Controlling Body
Click on Notices

The Tax Practitioner Submissions page will be displayed with the following fields:

Letter Description – Letter name.
Creation Date – Date letter received.
Open – Option to open the issued letter.

On the applicable Letter Description

Click on the View hyperlink

The following screen will be displayed

Click on Download File
- Click on the downloaded PDF document

How to view the history of a tax practitioner

This functionality allows RCB to view the individual tax practitioner historical information submissions.

To access this functionality, proceed as follows:

Click on Services
Click on Tax Practitioner Controlling Body
Click on History

The History screen page will be displayed.

The page will be displayed with the following fields:

Name – Name of the tax practitioner.
ID number – Identification number of the tax practitioner.
Registered name – Registered name of the tax practitioner’s practice if available.
Practitioners number – Practitioner’s number allocated to tax practitioner by SARS.
Date submitted – Submission date.
Status – Tax practitioner registration status
Open – Option to open the submitted data.

The user may search for the tax practitioner by completing the above-mentioned information and click on Search or alternatively click on Show All to display all the tax practitioner members.

To view the tax practitioner details,

Click on the View hyperlink beside the applicable tax practitioner
The following screen will be displayed

How to view or update tax practitioners’ details

RCBs can deregister their tax practitioner members from their list of registered tax practitioners via eFiling.

To update the tax practitioner member details, proceed as follows:

Select Services on the e-filing menu bar.

Tax Practitioner Controlling Body sub menu will be displayed.

Select Tax Practitioner Controlling Body option on the services menu.
Select Maintain Members option.

Maintain Tax Practitioner Details page will be displayed.

Insert the Tax Reference Number of the tax practitioner on the textbox and click on the Search

The tax practitioner details submitted will be displayed.

Complete the information to be updated on the Maintain Member page
Once completed, click on the Submit button displayed at the end of the page.

How to deregister a tax practitioner

To deregister a tax practitioner member, proceed as follows:

Select Services on the e-filing menu bar.
Select Tax Practitioner Controlling Body option on the services menu.
Select Maintain Members option.
Complete the Tax Reference Number of the relevant tax practitioner on the textbox and click on the Search button.

Fill in the tax practitioner compliance details as required on the screen.
To deregister a tax practitioner, on the dropdown Relationship Status, select Deregistered

Note:

If you are only interested in updating information of a tax practitioner and not deregistering a tax practitioner, the Relationship Status must be selected as “Active”.
Any other selected Relationship Status (Cancel, Inactive, Suspend, and Deregistered) will result in the tax practitioner being recorded as “Unregistered”.

Click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page. A pop-up message will be displayed.

Select “Ok”.

A message of a successful submission to SARS will be displayed.

SARS will update the profile of the tax practitioner submission accordingly.

Definitions, acronyms and abbreviations

The definitions, acronyms and abbreviations can be accessed here – Glossary webpage.

Legal disclaimer: In the event of conflict or inconsistency between this webpage and the PDF version of the guide, the latter shall prevail.