What’s New at SARS

27 June 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariffs amendments notices, R6339, and R6340, as published in Government Gazette 52903 of 27 June 2025, are now available.

26 June 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Tax Exemption Guide for Recreational Clubs (Issue 5)

26 June 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariffs amendments notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the following amendments:

With effect from 27 June 2025 up to and including 13 January 2026

• Imposition of provisional payment in relation to safeguard duties against the alleged increased imports of flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, clad, plated or coated, with aluminium-zinc alloys, of a thickness of less than 0.45 mm, classifiable under tariff subheadings 7210.61.20 and 7210.61.30 and flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, otherwise plated or coated with zinc, of a thickness of less than 0.45 mm, classifiable under tariff subheadings 7225.92.25 and 7225.92.35 (ITAC Report No. 750)

Effective 27 June 2025

• Amendment to Part 1 of Schedule No. 1 by the substitution of tariff subheading 8504.90 and insertion of tariff subheadings 8504.90.10 and 8504.90.90 to increase the general rate of customs duty on transformer cores, having a power handling capacity not exceeding 50 000 KVA, classifiable under tariff subheading 8504.90 from 5% to 15% (ITAC Report No. 744)

Publication details will be made available later

26 June 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 69 (Issue 4) – Game farming

26 June 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 69 (Issue 3) – Game farming

26 June 2025 – SARS is realising its vision to become a smart, modern organisation with unquestionable integrity, trusted and admired by all. It is working hard to make it easy for taxpayers to comply with their legal obligations.

The 2025 Filing Season for individuals will open on 7 July 2025 and covers these major dates:

• Auto Assessment notices: 7 July 2025 to 20 July 2025
• Individual taxpayers: 21 July 2025 to 20 October 2025
• Provisional taxpayers: 21 July 2025 to 19 January 2026

Trusts can start filing on 19 September 2025 and must file on or before 19 January 2026.

Below are updates for the upcoming Personal Income Tax Season:

Certain Provisional Taxpayers Can Participate in Auto Assessment

For the 2025 Tax Season, SARS will identify eligible provisional taxpayers and invite them to express their interest to receive an Auto Assessment. Eligible and interested provisional taxpayers will be included in the Auto Assessment population.

Section 6quat

With effect from 1 March 2025, section 6quat of the Income Tax Act (the ITA) has been amended for taxpayers to fully use foreign tax credits for the taxes paid on capital gains in the foreign jurisdiction to the same extent in relation to the taxes paid in South Africa on the same gains.

From the 2025 tax year, SARS will maintain any unused foreign tax credits to be carried forward automatically in the subsequent years of assessment, up to six years.

Section 11(nA) and 11(nB)

With effect from 1 March 2025, employers must report sections 11(nA) and 11(nB) of the ITA details on the IRP5/IT3(a) certificate. These changes will affect the ITR12 tax return so that section 11(nA) source code 4042 will be reflected on the IRP5/IT3(a) tax certificate, and a new source code 4058 relating to section 11(nB) will be reflected in the “Other Deduction” field.

Definition of “Provisional Taxpayer” in Paragraph 1 of the Fourth Schedule

With effect from 1 March 2025, a labour broker who received an approved certificate of exemption will be included in the definition of provisional taxpayer. This means that these labour brokers must comply with provisional taxpayer requirements such as submitting IRP6 tax returns.

Section 12H Learnership Agreement

The section 12H (of the ITA) Learnership Agreement termination date has been extended from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027.

Allowable Interest Expenses on Foreign Interest in Terms of Practice Note 31

The “Allowable interest expenses incurred in the production of interest received” line item has been introduced within the “Foreign Interest” container of the ITR tax return to align with Practice Note 31.

Backdated (Antedated) Salaries and Pensions

New source code 3623 and 3673 has been introduced to the ITR12 tax return for backdated (antedated) salaries and pensions.

Section 10(1)(i) interest exemption

For section 10(1)(i) (of the ITA) exemption to be applied correctly, the executor will be able to declare the “Interest Earned Date From” and “Interest Earned Date To” within the investment-income container on the deceased estate tax return where such date exceeds the year of assessment during which the taxpayer became deceased.

Exempt Local and Foreign Dividends

Two new source codes have been introduced for local (source code 4306) and foreign (source code 4307) dividends within the non-taxable container on the ITR12 tax return.

Section 9H Change of Residence

From the 2025 tax year, RSA tax-resident and non-resident taxpayers will be presented with a specific ITR12 and IRP6 tax-return type based on taxpayer registration status available with SARS, i.e.:

ITR12

• RSA tax resident will be presented with the resident wizard questionnaire.
• Non-resident will be presented with the non-resident wizard questionnaire.
• Taxpayers who ceased RSA tax residency during the year of assessment will be presented with the resident and non-resident questionnaire.

IRP6

• RSA tax resident will be presented with the resident return.
• Non-resident will be presented with the non-resident return.
• Taxpayers who ceased RSA tax residency during the year of assessment will be presented with resident and non-resident return.

Trust Income Changes

From the 2025 tax year, SARS will apply a 50% communal estate where income from a trust is declared, and the taxpayer is married in community of property.

Unused Balances such as Section 11F, Section 18A, Section 20

SARS will print the note given below on the ITA34, in instances where unused balances are not automatically carried over to the subsequent year of assessment:

SARS did not consider your carryover/brought forward amount(s) as the current return is under the verification review. SARS will initiate the amendment of the return to take the carryover/brought forward amount into account once the verification case is finalised.

Enhancement of Banking Details

To enhance user experience with the Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form and the ITR12 tax return, taxpayers will be presented with a list of their verified banking details available to SARS. Taxpayers must select this information when updating their bank-account details rather than manually capturing them.

Reinstatement of RSA Tax Residency

The Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form will enable a taxpayer who ceased to be an RSA tax resident in the past to indicate the reinstated date on the “Reinstatement Date of RSA Tax Residency” line item.

Keep an eye on the Filing Season webpage for more information.

25 June 2025 – 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 upgrades are scheduled for:

Friday, 27 June 2025 from 18h00 to 22h00.

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

25 June 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Guide to the Urban Development Zone Allowance (Issue 10)

25 June 2025 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Customs Clearance Declaration (CCD) has been updated to cancel the depot facility DTCP Warehousing (Pty) Ltd with code R2. 

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

24 June 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 90 (Issue 3) – Year of assessment of a company: Accounts accepted to a date other than the last day of a company’s financial year

24 June 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 19 (Issue 6) – Year of assessment of persons other than companies: Accounts accepted to a date other than the last day of February

24 June 2025 – Interpretation Notes

• Interpretation Note 90 (Issue 2) – Year of assessment of a company: Accounts accepted to a date other than the last day of a company’s financial year
• Interpretation Note 19 (Issue 5) – Year of assessment of persons other than companies: Accounts accepted to a date other than the last day of February

24 June 2025 – The East London mobile tax unit schedule for July to September 2025 is now available.

23 June 2025 – 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 June 2025 – SARS is aware of websites claiming that salaried workers can receive tax refunds of R8000.00 if they file before 30 July. This information is not accurate, and deadlines stipulated are incorrect. Tax assessments vary based on individual circumstances. For accurate information, visit the official SARS website at sars.gov.za and avoid third-party websites. Filing season deadlines are available here.

Example of a fake news website:

20 June 2025 – You are requested to provide information for the service as outlined in RFI03/2025. The conditions specified in the SARS Procurement Policy apply.

20 June 2025 – Join SARS, Government Departments, and the Private Sector in Celebrating Small, Micro, and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs)

Date: 27 June 2025

Time: 09:00–15:00

Theme: Supporting SMMEs: Employment, Livelihoods, and Economic Growth

To attend the SMME Day at a location convenient, view the venues in various regions.

What to Bring

Need help with your taxes? SARS will be there for you. You can bring your own device if you need help logging into your eFiling profile or updating your details. Also bring supporting documents, such as an updated business address and contact details.

Your Tax Matters

SMMEs are important employers and drivers of economic growth. SARS works with SMMEs to raise awareness and make it easier to meet their tax obligations.

We will help you to:

• Register for Income Tax on eFiling/SARS MobiApp.
• Update registration information.
• Check your Tax Compliance Status.
• Check account balance.
• File tax returns.
• Deregister a dormant company with SARS.

For more information, visit Small Businesses – Taxpayers.

20 June 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for correction notice, R6323, as published in Government Gazette 52882 of 20 June 2025, are now available.

20 June 2025 – 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 upgrades are scheduled for:

Friday, 20 June 2025 from 18h00 to 22h00.

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

19 June 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The correction notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the correction of the English version of Note 10 in Chapter 84 in Notice No. R. 1089 of Government Gazette No. 45378 published on 22 October 2021, by referring to “84.85” instead of “85.85” where it occurs in the last line of that Note.

Publication details will be made available later