What’s New at SARS

2 October 2026 – The unmerge function was introduced in April 2024 but you had to request it via the Contact Centre or a Branch.

The unmerge function is now available on eFiling. This function will allow taxpayers, registered representatives, and registered tax practitioners to request an unmerge of incorrectly merged cases via eFiling.

The unmerge option can be used only if cases have been previously merged or auto merged. The taxpayer can view the current entity record with all associated tax products linked to the entity and all previously merged requests performed.

The go-green principle will apply, and relevant stakeholders will be informed via a rejection or approval letter.

See the Guide to Unmerge Entity Records and the FAQs on how to unmerge tax profiles.

Important reminder: Please review your registered particulars as soon as possible. Following the profile correction, some information may have reverted to a previous state and may require updating to keep SARS records remain accurate and current.

In other words, both the merging and unmerging of tax profiles are now possible on eFiling.

For more information, visit the Merging of tax profiles webpage.

2 October 2026 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• Reportable Arrangement Guide

2 October 2026 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

Friday, 02 October 2026 from 18h00 to 23h00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.

1 October 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Please note that the names of the jurisdictions have been updated:

• Swaziland is now reflected as Eswatini
• Taiwan is now reflected as Chinese Taipei
• Turkey is now reflected as Türkiye

1 October 2026  – SARS and the Office of the Tax Ombud will be visiting the Mimosa Mall in Bloemfontein to assist taxpayers with tax related matters.

• Venue: Mimosa Mall, Bloemfontein (main Atrium)
• Dates & times: Thursday, 1 October & Friday, 2 October from 9:00 – 18:00 and Saturday, 3 October from 9:00 – 17:00

1 October 2026 – The VAT Modernisation Consultation Paper process has entered its final phase.

Stakeholders are invited to review the Consultation Paper and submit comments that can help shape the future of VAT administration.

Visit the VAT Modernisation webpage to read the Consultation Paper and submit your comments by 16 October 2026.

30 September 2026 – Selected SARS service centres will open on Saturdays to assist taxpayers with filing their Income Tax returns ahead of the Individual Filing Season deadline of 23 October 2026.

The table below provides the details:

Changes: Dates for Ashlea Gardens, Pretoria CBD, Krugersdorp and Roodepoort service centres have been amended.

30 September 2026 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• Roy Muleya v CSARS (Leave to Appeal) (48495/2021) [2026] ZAGPPHC (11 September 2026)

Whether the court should grant the leave to appeal

30 September 2026 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R20.5 billion in August 2026. This surplus was attributable to exports of R181.8 billion and imports of R161.3 billion, inclusive of trade with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN).

See the full Media Release here.

Visit the Trade Statistics webpage.

30 September 2026 – The Reportable Arrangement External Guide has been amended to remove the option for requesting an Advance Tax Ruling in respect of arrangements that may be subject to the reporting requirements of section 35 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011. The content of the Guide has also been simplified to improve clarity.

30 September 2026 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• SARSTC IT 45931 and VAT 22285 (ADM) [2026] ZATC DBN (23 July 2026)

Whether:

1.  The Commissioner/SARS official was justified in applying section 99(2)(a)(ii) of the Tax Administration Act (TAA) to raise additional assessments for VAT based on a non-existent analysis of bank statements.
2. The Commissioner/SARS official was justified in applying section 99(2)(a)(ii) of the TAA to raise additional assessments for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 years of assessment.

30 September 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 74 (Issue 4) – Deduction and Recoupment of Expenditure Incurred on Repairs

30 September 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 74 (Issue 3) – Deduction and Recoupment of Expenditure Incurred on Repairs

30 September 2026 – General Guides

• Taxation in South Africa 2026
• Tax Guide for Small Businesses (2025/2026)

30 September 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Table 3 – Rates at which interest-free or low interest loans are subject to income tax

28 September 2026 – The state provides state warehouses for the safekeeping of goods. These are managed by Customs. The purpose of this list of unentered goods is to notify the importer, exporter and any other person that has interest in the goods that the goods have been taken up into the State warehouse and if they remain unentered they will be disposed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act.

See the latest Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods here.

25 September 2026 – Tax Administration Act, 2011: Public Notice in Government Gazette 55438 of 25 September 2026: Notice 7958 extends the date by which a provisional taxpayer, who received an automatic assessment in terms of paragraph 3(3) of the Notice to submit returns may request a reduced or additional assessment.

25 September 2026 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Goods Declaration has been updated to include details of the terminal for Port Dynamics (Pty) Ltd., located in Durban.

This addition enables Customs to transmit electronic messages communicating the status of the consignment to these facilities.

SC-CF-19-A02 – Facilities Code List – External Annexure

25 September 2026 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

Saturday, 26 September 2026 from 17h00 to 23h00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.

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: 

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. 

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. 

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:

• GEN-ENR-01-G04 – How to Submit the FTI01 and Declare Foreign Tax Information FTI02 – External Guide

Refer to the latest external BRS for AEOI: CRS & FATCA reporting:

• Final External BRS Version 3.0.0-17