Updated Guides for Filing Season 2026 | South African Revenue Service

29 June 2026 – All relevant guides were updated for the Personal Income Tax Filing Season 2026.

Here is an overview of the detail changes as described in the updated guides:

The following items must be declared on a transactional level (i.e. per institution) on the ITR12 return:
- Interest expenses claimed.
- Amounts accrued as an exclusive deemed-resident of another country in terms of a double taxation agreement (DTA) between RSA and that other country.
- Section 11G — Expenses incurred in the production of interest are deductible. The expenses claimed are limited to the interest-income received or accrued for the year of assessment.
- Interest exempt in terms of s10(1)(h).
Section 20A deals with the ring‑fencing of assessed losses from certain trades conducted by individuals. From the 2027 year of assessment, the maximum marginal tax rate will apply to taxable income in excess of the 39% tax bracket scale.
The trust details on the ITR12 form for resident taxpayers will be prepopulated with available third-party data (IT3[t] certificate).
The ITR12 return will display a list of licensed and approved medical-scheme names. Taxpayers who want to claim medical-aid deductions must use the drop-down list to select the medical scheme name.
Declaration Alerts — The declaration-alert process will obtain additional information from taxpayers upfront to minimise the likelihood of the return being selected for further verification. When a return is submitted, the SARS system will validate the return. If the return is flagged for additional clarification, a “Declaration Questionnaire” will be presented after submission of the return, and a verification case will not be created immediately:
- If the answers on the questionnaire address the additional clarification required, the return will be processed and any refund due will be released.
- If the taxpayer declines the questionnaire, the return will be routed for verification.
The taxpayer’s residency status will be used to determine the ITR12 return type (i.e. resident or non-resident) displayed for completion. The residency status is derived from specific indicators per SARS records:
- Ceased to be RSA tax resident.
- Date on which taxpayer reinstated RSA tax residency.
- Date on which taxpayer became an RSA tax resident.
- Nature of Entity changes (i.e. foreign individual with foreign passport/RSA identity number, individual with RSA identity).
An encrypted notice of assessment (ITA34) will be issued to auto-assessed taxpayers via WhatsApp if:
- The taxpayer is not registered for eFiling;
- The taxpayer does not have a registered email address;
- ATP has verified that WhatsApp number;
- ATP has validated that the WhatsApp terms and conditions have been actioned.
Amended eFiling “return overdue” message validation: The eFiling system will display only the “returns overdue” message if the taxpayer has not submitted the relevant return through any channel, e.g. eFiling, MobiApp, branch submission.
From the 2026 year of assessment, SARS will reject a return if it declares a lump sum benefit for which a tax-directive application for a transfer between retirement funds was submitted to SARS, but SARS did not receive any Recognition of Transfers (ROT) from the transferee fund.
Provisional Tax:
- The due date to submit a return where a provisional taxpayer is aggrieved by an Auto Assessment outcome, has been aligned with the promulgated due date for provisional taxpayers.
- The Request for Extension process for auto-assessed provisional taxpayers allows only valid calendar dates to be selected according to the gazetted submission deadlines for provisional taxpayer returns.

See more information in the updated guides: