What’s New at SARS

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

17 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.

17 June 2025 – The June Issue of the Monthly Tax Digest is now available.  In this issue we focus on the 2025 Filing Season for individuals.

14 June 2025 — The South African Revenue Service (SARS) continues to discharge its mandate to collect all revenue due to the fiscus, facilitate legitimate trade, and ensure compliance. This takes place in a difficult economic and operational environment characterised by multiple challenges, including the illicit economy. SARS is working with other law enforcement agencies to combat the scourge of the illicit economy.

The illicit economy is a global phenomenon that threatens South Africa’s society, economy, and national security. Tax evasion, smuggling, illegal transactions, illicit manufacturing, and fraud undermine the rule of law, erode public trust, distort markets, deprive governments of revenue, and enable corruption and organised crime. The pervasiveness of these illicit activities in our country demands that all enforcement agencies work jointly to curb their harmful practices. The illicit economy is complex and requires a whole-of-government response among public entities, the private sector, civil society, and international partners.

Over the past decade, countries along the Maputo Corridor (South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique) have become primary targets of the illicit fuel trade, which is driven by organised criminal networks that smuggle and illegally adulterate fuel. SARS has established that some importers declare fuel amounting to 40 000 litres or less, whereas investigation reveals that up to 60 000 litres of fuel are actually imported. This is called under-declaration, and documents are falsified to perpetuate this fraudulent activity. SARS has also detected a national trend where many of the fuel-storage and distribution depots are involved in the adulteration of all fuel products, especially through illegal mixing of diesel with paraffin. Fuel adulteration costs the fiscus approximately R3.6 billion per year according to statistics by the International Trade Administration Commission.

Faced with such carefully planned criminality, government agencies are working together more closely to detect, prevent, and combat fuel adulteration and enforce the Customs and Excise Act. In the past four months, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has carried out several interventions.

The intelligence-driven joint-enforcement interventions included search-and-seizure operations targeting certain fuel-storage facilities and depots as well as random sampling of tanker transport to test the fuel viscosity and composition. In some cases, adulterated diesel analysed by in these investigations had up to 68% paraffin content.

A joint-intelligence team composed of SARS and SAPS officials identified 23 targets across Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal. This team detained:

1. 953 515 litres of contaminated diesel fuel.
2. Six fuel depots that were in contravention of Sec. 37 of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 as amended.
3. Assets and contaminated fuel to the value of R367 274 330, leading to further investigation, and criminal and civil liabilities.
4. Two so-called fuel “washrooms”, of which one is a rare mobile “washroom” fitted on a transport truck, used to remove paraffin markers.

5. Twelve fuel-transport trucks which were identified after suspected false declaration on importation of an average of 15 000 litres of fuel per tanker.

Moreover, 13 criminal cases were registered with SAPS, supported by SARS’s trade investigators for customs and excise contraventions and fraud.

SARS appreciates the continued operational support received from:

• NATJOINTS
• South African Police Service: Crime Intelligence, Public Order Policing, Digital Forensics, and Detective Services
• State Security Agency
• South African National Defence Force
• Municipal Emergency Services: Fire Department and Municipal Police
• Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment
• Department of Mineral Resources and Energy
• National Prosecuting Authority
• Department of Home Affairs

Edward Kieswetter, SARS Commissioner, expressed his thanks to the SARS and SAPS teams and other Government departments for their untiring effort to detect, combat, and prevent the scourge of the illicit economy. He said that “the criminal syndicates engaged in these brazen acts have become emboldened to act callously with no restraint in pursuit of their rapacious and criminal gains”. Commissioner Kieswetter stressed that state agencies will coordinate closely and work within the law to confront illicit trade. “These syndicates can only underestimate our resolve to eradicate this criminality at their peril. These acts threaten the very foundation of our society. Our message is clear: we will spare no efforts to crush them”.

For further information, please contact [email protected].

13 June 2025 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Customs Clearance Declaration (CCD) have been updated to include details of the newly approved De-grouping Facilities:

• FTL Freight and Transit (South Africa) Pty Ltd with code CF, and
• RT Clearing and Forwarding with code CE.

Both are based at O.R. Tambo International Airport.

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