23 September 2026 – SARS is enhancing its systems to implement the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) amendments introduced through CRS Schema 3.0 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These enhancements are intended to strengthen tax transparency, improve data quality, and enhance reporting requirements for South African financial institutions and SARS.
To enhance SARS’s third-party data environment, the following changes have been introduced:Â
Null Submissions
For active RFIs with no reportable information for a reporting period:
- A system-generated null-submission indicator has been introduced for SARS internal processing.
- The requirement to submit an FTI02 declaration after a successful FTI01 null submission has been removed.
- A Submitting Entity may include up to 20 RFIs in a single FTI01 submission.Â
Full Data Submissions
Key enhancements include:
- Bringing certain new financial products and institutions into scope, including e-money products, payment institutions, digital wallet platforms and central bank currency accounts.
- Strengthening due diligence obligations through robust self-certification processes and tax residency identification.
- Enhancing taxpayer and controlling person information to improve completeness.
- Improving Tax Identification Number (TIN) information.
- Strengthening data quality standards to increase accuracy and usability.Â
While these enhancements are expected to have minimal impact on SARS’s day-to-day operations and employees, they will support greater use of high-quality information, more effective compliance monitoring, improved identification of offshore tax non-compliance, and enhanced revenue collection.
The following external guide has been updated:
Refer to the latest external BRS for AEOI: CRS & FATCAÂ reporting:
