All companies are automatically registered for provisional tax. Therefore, non-provisional taxpayers are typically individuals earning little or no income other than from a salary. These taxpayers therefore need to attend to their annual income tax returns with an increased sense of urgency to meet the looming deadline, which is 25 November 2016 for individuals filing returns by way of SARS’ eFiling system. (Those very few individuals who still submit returns manually should have filed their income tax returns by 23 September 2016 already.)
Government Gazette No. 40041 (dated 3 June 2016) identified those persons required to file annual income tax returns for the 2016 year of assessment. The primary exemption from the requirement to submit a return for tax resident natural persons is if the person earned only a salary from a single employer during the year which did not exceed R350,000, and income from interest for that person was also less than R23,800 (or R34,500 if the person is older than 65). The converse holds true though that if a person received income in excess of any of these amounts, they will be required to submit an income tax return for the 2016 tax year.
The Government Gazette also determines the dates by when the relevant persons are required to have submitted their returns by. Provisional taxpayers are annually afforded a slightly more lenient deadline to submit their income tax returns by as opposed to non-provisional taxpayers. This requires non-provisional taxpayers to be extra vigilant of the deadline to submit their annual income tax returns for the 2016 tax year by.
We therefore wish to remind our clients of their filing obligations with SARS and to contact us so that we may accumulate the information necessary to assist them in this regard. Failure to submit returns timeously may lead to penalties, as well as interest accruing on their accounts due to SARS. Administrative non-compliance penalties specifically will be levied if a person has more than one annual income tax return outstanding.
This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors & omissions excepted. (E&OE).