Pretoria, 12 March 2013 — The South African Revenue Service (SARS) wants to remind taxpayers with payments due at the end of March 2013 that the deadline for tax payments for the current financial year is Thursday 28 March 2013.
This year 31 March 2013 – the end of the 2012/13 fiscal year – falls on a Sunday (a non-working day). In addition, Friday 29th is Easter Friday and thus a Public Holiday. Therefore all tax payments must be made by Thursday 28 March (as per the normal rule that the last working day of any month is regarded as the due date).
SARS wants to remind taxpayers that only payments banked to SARS on the last working day (Thursday 28th March 2013) will be reflected as paid on time.
Taxpayers utilising the payment authorisation on the eFiling system should note that “debit pull” payment instructions issued after 18H00 on 28 March 2013 will NOT be banked on the same day and can result in penalties and interest charges for late payments.
To eliminate uncertainty and avoid any risk of late payment SARS urges all taxpayers to make payments at commercial banks by no later than 14H00 on Thursday 28 March 2013.
SARS is expecting significant volumes on the final day – almost R35 billion was collected at the same stage last year – and urges taxpayers to avoid this last-minute rush.
In the 2013 Budget on 27 February, the Minister of Finance set SARS a revised revenue collection target of R810.15 billion for the 2012/13 fiscal year.
The Minister of Finance is scheduled to announce the preliminary outcome of the revenue collection for the year on Tuesday 2 April 2013.
ENDS.
