Pretoria, Sunday 29 January 2012 – South African taxpayers have raised the tax compliance bar yet again.For the first time in this country’s history the number of individual tax returns received for any specific tax year has exceeded the 4 million mark.
By Thursday 26 January 2012, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) had received 4,010,980 tax returns for the 2010/11 tax year.
This number includes 3.86 million individuals and trusts who submitted their tax returns by the deadline of 25 November last year, as well as provisional taxpayers who have until midnight on Tuesday 31 January 2012 to submit their returns electronically on Sars eFiling.
At the corresponding time for the 2010 Tax Season, SARS had received 3,523,707returns, which means 487 273 more returns have been received for the 2011 Tax Season which represents a 13.8% increase in the number of returns submitted.
This figure is likely to grow even further as provisional taxpayers use eFiling until 31 January 2012 to submit their returns. Provisional taxpayers are individuals with additional sources of income like investment income or trading income from operating a business, which is not subject to Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) deductions.
Payments for assessed tax
SARS would also like to take the opportunity to remind those taxpayers who submitted their returns via eFiling by 25 November last year, that the final date for payment of any assessed tax liability is also 31 January 2012.
To encourage the use of eFiling, taxpayers who after assessment have a tax liability, are granted until 31 January 2012 to make payment irrespective of when they submitted their returns. However, should they fail to make this payment by 31 January 2012, interest is levied from the first due date which is generally 30 days after submission.
Taxpayers who are not sure if they have an outstanding payment can request an Income Tax Statement of Account via their eFiling profile which indicates the amount to be paid, the details of the SARS bank account into which payment must be made, as well as the payment reference number to use. Taxpayers must please enter all the digits of the payment reference number correctly, including all zeros.
Taxpayers can also request a Statement of Account from the SARS Call Centre on 0800 00 7277.
ENDS.
