What’s New at SARS

29 October 2026 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is urging employers who have not yet submitted their 2026 Employer Interim Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) to act now, with the submission period closing on 31 October 2026.

Employers are required to reconcile their payroll information for the six months from 1 March to 31 August 2026, including Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE), Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Skills Development Levy (SDL) amounts, and ensure that employee information and IRP5/IT3(a) certificates are accurate and complete.

With just three days remaining, SARS cautions employers against leaving submissions until the final hours and urges them to allow sufficient time to address validation errors, rejected submissions, or discrepancies that could prevent them from meeting their obligations by the deadline.

Importantly, submission does not necessarily mean completion; after submitting an EMP501, employers should check their submission status and PAYE Dashboard to confirm the reconciliation has been successfully processed.

SARS’ message to employers is simple: submit, verify and complete, adding that employer compliance supports South Africa’s fiscal resilience. The deadline comes against the backdrop of the 2026 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) and renewed focus on the sustainability of South Africa’s public finances.

Employer reconciliation is more than a filing obligation but an important part of the integrity of South Africa’s revenue system. Every accurate declaration strengthens the quality of the information the tax system depends on and contributes to our country’s fiscal resilience. SARS is modernising tax administration to make compliance progressively easier, but with that ease comes a clear expectation that employers meet their obligations. Our message ahead of 31 October is simple: submit accurately, verify the outcome and finish the job.

The 2026 Employer Interim Filing Season also reflects SARS’ continuing work to modernise tax administration. Enhancements for the current interim PAYE filing season include changes to EMP201 and EMP501, new source codes, revised validations and enhancements to e@syFile™ Employer.

SARS reminds employers that late or inaccurate compliance may expose them to penalties and interest. The revenue service’s compliance approach is designed to make it easy for taxpayers to meet their obligations voluntarily, while detecting non-compliance and making non-compliance hard and costly.

SARS thanks employers who have already fulfilled their obligations and calls on those with outstanding EMP501 declarations to act now.

Further information on the Employer Interim Reconciliation process and submission requirements is available on the SARS website at www.sars.gov.za.

For more information, contact [email protected].

28 October 2026 – The Supplier Onboarding and Management External Standard has been developed. The document provides a standardised framework for supplier onboarding. The External Standard sets out the mandatory Central Supplier Database (CSD), tax and statutory registration requirements.

SS-PROC-01-ST01 – Supplier Onboarding and Management – External Standard

For more information, see the Supplier Registration webpage.

28 October 2026 – Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and Tax Administration Act, 2011

• CSARS v Mkhize and Others (D13795/2024) [2026] ZAKZDHC 69 (26 October 2026)

Whether the preservation order granted in November 2024 could be varied to permit the Curator to sell 5 properties in Sandton which Mhkize was the beneficial owner of, and to hold the funds realised from the sale in an Attorney’s trust account pending action proceedings to be brought by SARS to use the funds to set off Mhkize’s tax liabilities.

27 October 2026 — SARS has the power to appoint an employer to pay any outstanding tax, which is due by a taxpayer, out of any money that is held on behalf of the taxpayer. This process is called the Third-Party Appointments process (AA88). If a taxpayer has outstanding tax debts (this includes penalties, which will accrue until the outstanding returns are submitted), the Tax Administration Act empowers SARS to appoint a third party to recover money held by other third parties on behalf of the taxpayer, or money owed by the third party to the taxpayer. Third parties could be an employer.

The AA88 appointment process has been enhanced with a revised schedule for employers when automatically processing AA88 appointments for Personal Income Tax (PIT) administrative penalties and assessed tax debt. The revised schedule improves the automated process by providing employers with more time to load AA88 deductions before payroll closure and reducing repeated AA88 appointments and cancellations.

For more information, see the updated IT-easyFile-G01 – Third-Party Appointment (AA88) e@syFile™ Employer Guide – External Guide or visit the Third-Party Appointments (AA88) webpage.

27 October 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Guide to Income Tax Benefits in Special Economic Zones

27 October 2026 – SARS and the Office of the Tax Ombud will be visiting the N1 City Mall, Cape Town to assist taxpayers with tax related matters on 30 & 31 October 2026.

Date & times:

• Friday, 30 October 2026 from 9:00 – 19:00
• Saturday, 31 October 2026 from 9:00 – 17:00

Venue: N1 City Mall, Truworths court, Cape Town

26 October 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.

23 October 2026 – In the October 2026 edition, we share the story of how SARS brings tax education closer to small businesses through partnership and community engagement. By collaborating with government SMME champions and spotlighting the transport industry during Transport month, SARS is helping entrepreneurs gain the knowledge, support, and confidence they need to grow, meet their tax obligations, and contribute to South Africa’s economy. This edition also makes it easier to take the next step by highlighting key employer filing updates, available support channels and Turnover Tax a simplified, consolidated tax option for small businesses.

23 October 2026 – The October 2026 issue covers the following important SARS updates and developments:

• Latest e@syFile release
• New eFiling process for unmerging profiles
• Improved Diesel Refund registration
• Global Minimum Tax administration capabilities
• Latest Tax Exempt Institutions Connect
• Improvements to Automatic Exchange of Information reporting.

23 October 2026 – As part of SARS’s efforts to improve traveller compliance and enhance digital service delivery, the South African Traveller Management System (SATMS) external guides have been updated to align with the current functionality available through SATMS.

The SATMS website and Mobile Application guides have been updated to reflect recent enhancements to the traveller declaration solution including the integration of Lwazi AI Assistant with SATMS to help travellers with live responses to traveller-related questions as well as other system updates. Both the SARS web and mobile platforms have been improved to provide enhanced user experience.

• SC-PA-01-12 – SATMS Through SARS Website – External Guide
• SC-PA-01-13 – SATMS Through Mobile Application – External Guide

23 October 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Guide on Mutual Agreement Procedures (Issue 4)

23 October 2026 – The October 2026 issue covers the following important SARS updates and developments:

• Latest e@syFile release
• New eFiling process for unmerging profiles
• Improved Diesel Refund registration
• Global Minimum Tax administration capabilities
• Latest Tax Exempt Institutions Connect
• Improvements to Automatic Exchange of Information reporting.

22 October 2026 – From 16 October 2026 the issued Manual Letter of Compliance (MLOC) includes the requirement for the resident Trust to obtain a TCS Good Standing when presenting the Manual Letter of Compliance to the Authorised Dealer for the transfer of funds. For more information see the Supporting documents for Approval of International Transfers webpage.

See the Trusts landing page for more information on Trusts.

22 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:

Saturday, 24 October 2026 from 18h00 to 22h00.

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

Responses (CUSRES messages) to transactions submitted during this time will be delayed, however, arrival and exit management functions are available at land border posts for all released declarations and manifests.

Stakeholders are therefore urged to submit all Goods Declarations (bills of entry) and Road Manifest, especially those deemed priority, by Saturday, 24 October 2026 @ 17h00.

22 October 2026 – The Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list was updated.

Tariff subheading 2530.90 is subject to ITAC export control measures. However, the product Pyrophyllite is excluded from these measures and should therefore be exempted from tariff subheading 2530.90.

22 October 2026 — The South African Revenue Service (SARS) urges non-provisional taxpayers with outstanding returns to file before the 2026 Filing Season closes this Friday, 23 October 2026.

By 30 September 2026, SARS had auto-assessed more than 6.9 million returns, a 20% increase on the previous year. SARS also extended Auto Assessments to certain provisional taxpayers for the first time. From 1 July to 19 October 2026, SARS paid refunds totalling R33 billion to 3 143 675 taxpayers. Of these refunds, 85% were paid within 72 hours, reaching over 3 million taxpayers.

For the 2026 Filing Season, SARS increased its use of verified third-party data, expanded Auto Assessments, and improved its eFiling platforms. It also enabled taxpayers to receive assessment notices and submit documents through WhatsApp, adding another digital channel for engaging with SARS.

SARS Commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu said: “Expanding Auto Assessments shows how better use of data can simplify taxpayers’ interactions with SARS. The speed of processing legitimate refunds is a key measure of effective tax administration.”

These improvements advance SARS’s strategic intent to encourage voluntary compliance by giving taxpayers clarity and certainty about their obligations. The aim is to make compliance easy and deliberate non-compliance difficult and costly.

“Tax administration goes beyond collecting what is lawfully due. Paying legitimate refunds efficiently is equally important to support taxpayers in a difficult economic environment and give them certainty. Our modernisation programme aims to improve both collection and refunds while safeguarding the integrity of the tax system,” Commissioner Makhubu said.

One Day Left to File

SARS urges taxpayers with outstanding returns to file now rather than wait until the last day. Returns can be submitted through SARS eFiling or the SARS MobiApp before the 23 October 2026 deadline.

Late submission of Personal Income Tax returns may attract a monthly administrative penalty of R250 to R16 000, depending on taxable income, until the return is submitted. Unpaid tax debt may also incur penalties and interest. Taxpayers unable to pay in full should contact SARS promptly to discuss payment arrangements rather than leave their obligations unaddressed.

The Commissioner thanked taxpayers who had met their Filing Season obligations and urged those with outstanding returns to file before the deadline.

“Every compliant taxpayer helps our country function and develop. We thank the millions who have fulfilled their obligations and urge those who still need to file to act now. Our digital platforms enable taxpayers to meet their obligations without visiting a SARS branch,” Commissioner Makhubu said.

For enquiries, contact [email protected].

22 October 2026 – Watch our step-by-step video on how to prepare for Trust Filing Season. If you are a trustee, you need to act now and get your trust returns sorted.

for more information, see the Trusts landing page.

21 October 2026 – The new Diesel Refund registration system requires all taxpayers to validate, confirm, and merge their legal-entity profiles before registration. Taxpayers whose entities do not reflect these statuses cannot access the new Diesel Refund platform.

SARS has auto-matched some entities to reflect the “Validated” and “Confirmed” statuses. However, certain entities could not be updated automatically and require action by taxpayers.

See the letter to Trade here for more information on how to update your profile.

Keep an eye to our Diesel Refund Scheme webpage.

21 October 2026 – Social media influencers and content creators must declare any taxable income they earn, whether they receive it in cash or as products, travel or other benefits. They should keep supporting records and determine whether provisional tax, VAT or other tax obligations apply to their activities.

SARS has published the guide and supporting webpage on its website to provide social media influencers and content creators with clear, accessible information on declaring income, keeping records and meeting their tax obligations.

Read the Taxation of Income Received by Social Media Influencers and Content Creators External Guide or visit the Social Media Influencers and Content Creators webpage for more information.

21 October 2026 – National Legislation: The following bills were introduced in the National Assembly:

• Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill [B34—2026]
• Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill [B33—2026]
• Taxation Laws Amendment Bill [B32—2026]