07/07/2015
The income threshold below which taxpayers do not have to submit a tax return has been raised from R250 000 to R350 000 for the 2015 year of assessment (March 1, 2014 to February 28, 2015). However, the income threshold is not the only criterion that determines whether or not you must submit a return. You must file one if your total salary before tax was below R350 000 but if:
* You received income from more than one employer;
* You received a car allowance;
* You received income from another source, such as a business or renting out property;
* You are claiming tax-related deductions, such as medical expenses, travel expenses and contributions to retirement funds;
* You received interest from a South African source of more than R23 800 if you are below 65 years, or R34 500 if you are 65 or older; or
* Dividends were paid to you and you were a South African resident during the year of assessment.
The deadlines for filing your return are:
* If you submit a paper return in person to a branch of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) or you post a paper return: Wednesday, September 30. This deadline also applies to provisional taxpayers who submit paper returns.
* If you are not a provisional taxpayer and you file your return at a SARS branch or you eFile it: Tuesday, November 27.
* If you are a provisional taxpayer and you eFile your return: Friday, January 29, 2016. Provisional taxpayers who eFile have until January 31 to make payments.
SARS will impose penalties on taxpayers who do not meet the relevant deadlines.
Ettiene Retief, the chairperson of the national tax and stakeholders committee at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (Saipa), says you should pay attention to the following when completing your tax return:
* Out-of-pocket medical expenses. If you are over the age of 65, you can claim all medical expenses not covered by a medical scheme. Other taxpayers may claim for out-of-pocket medical expenses (not recovered from a medical scheme) only if they exceed 7.5 percent of their total income. Retief says SARS requires proof that you actually paid an out-of-pocket expense. Invoices from medical practitioners will not suffice; you must keep receipts or electronic fund transfer statements.
* Expenses related to disability. A medical practitioner who is qualified to assess the disability concerned must complete an ITR-DD (confirmation of diagnosis of disability) form (which can be downloaded from the SARS website, www.sars.gov.za), which must accompany your claim.
* Business-related mileage. You must keep a log-book if you receive a travel allowance and want to claim for business-related travel in a private vehicle. Your log-book must contain the odometer reading at the beginning and the end of the tax period, with each business trip logged by date, destination, purpose and kilometres travelled.
* Expenses related to rental income. Taxpayers who earn rental income from property can claim expenses related to generating that income, but not capital expenditure. If you took out a bond to buy the property, you may claim only the interest portion of the repayments and the bank’s administration fees. Keep your statements that show the capital and interest portions of your monthly repayments separately. You must also be able to produce documents to support the other expenses you are entitled to claim, such as levies, rates, rental agent’s fees, and repairs and maintenance (but not improvements).
* Interest income. Go through all the IT3B statements you receive and identify all the interest income you receive, including interest paid on a medical savings account and interest paid by SARS on late repayments.
* Income information. Check that the information with which SARS has pre-populated your tax return is accurate. Inaccuracies that come to light if SARS performs an audit could make it seem as if you have been acting fraudulently.
“SARS continues to focus on compliance, and has targets to meet, so my key advice is to be accurate, be on time and, above all, to make sure you have the supporting paperwork,” Retief says.
If you use a tax practitioner, remember that all tax practitioners have to be registered with SARS. They must belong to a recognised controlling body, such as Saipa, the South African Institute of Tax Professionals and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. You, as the individual taxpayer, remain liable for your tax affairs and compliance when you use a tax practitioner.
SARS says it has improved its ability to verify taxpayer information through third-party data. It says that, this filing season, it will focus on claims for contributions to medical schemes, retirement funds and income protection policies, and on taxpayers who submit revised returns for previous years.
“Taxpayers are urged to provide correct and accurate information on their returns. Incorrect information could result in audits and penalties being applied,” SARS says.
Beware of scams
Tax filing season has barely started and the first phishing emails are already doing the rounds, making it essential for taxpayers to be on high alert.
Here is some advice on how to protect yourself against fraudsters:
* Do not open or respond to emails from unknown sources;
* Beware of emails that ask for personal, tax, banking and eFiling details (log-in credentials, passwords, PINs, credit or debit card information, and so on), because SARS will never ask taxpayers for such information in an email;
* SARS will not ask for your banking details over the phone, via email or on its own or any other websites; and
* Beware of SMSes that purport to come from SARS.
For more information on how to protect yourself against online fraud, go to www.sars.gov.za and click on “Fighting tax crime” and then “Identity fraud” or “Scams and phishing”.
To report suspicious emails or SMSes:
* Email [email protected];
* Phone the fraud and anti-corruption hotline on 0800 00 2870 FREE; or
* Call the SARS contact centre on 0800 00 7277 FREE.
Advice for eFilers
SARS has the following advice for taxpayers who eFile:
* You can change your banking details when you complete your ITR12 via eFiling. To protect you against fraud, SARS will verify any changes that you make to your banking details before updating your banking profile. Any refunds due to you will be processed after your banking details have been verified. If your details cannot be verified, you will have to visit a SARS branch to validate your banking details and present supporting documents. Go to sars.gov.za to find out which documents you will have to present.
* eFiling allows you to work on your return and to save your work until you are ready to submit it. But saving your return does not mean it has been sent to SARS. Your return will be submitted once you click the “Submit return to SARS” button, and your profile has been updated to show the return has been submitted. If you do not receive your ITA34 Notice of Assessment, it means that you haven’t yet submitted your return.
* You can receive real-time help from a SARS consultant while you use eFiling. Click on the “Help-you-eFile” icon on the eFiling log-in page and follow the prompts. If you are too busy to hold for an agent, click on the “Help-you-eFile” icon and then click “Call me”, and a SARS agent will phone you back.
* eFilers can download the SARS eFiling App to complete and submit their income tax return on Apple (IOS6 and up) or Android devices. The app can be downloaded from either the Google Play Store (for Android) or the App Store (for Apple devices).
