How to complete your tax return
For those taxpayers that do not get Auto Assessments, here’s how to complete your tax return.
The first thing to ask is whether you need to complete a return. SARS increased the threshold for the completion of tax returns to R500 000 in the 2020 tax year. This announcement caused (and still causes) huge confusion among the citizenry.
What this actually means is that, if you only earned salary income from only one employer in the tax year; and that income was below R500 000 then you don’t have to submit a tax return i.e. it is not obligatory. Any deviation from this and you must submit a return.
If you did earn any other income e.g. interest or rental income, no matter how little, and your total income is under R500 000, then sadly you must submit a return. So the exemption only applies if you only earned salary from only one source and earned no other form of income.
There is always a but in tax, of course. Even if the threshold applies to you, you may still choose to submit a return if you think you may be due a refund. The most common instance being, if you contributed to a retirement annuity in the year, the chances are you will be due a refund. Also, if your employer was not completely accurate with the paye deductions, you may be due a refund. And finally, if you received a travel allowance, you have already been taxed on most of this, so most likely you will be due a refund – but you MUST submit a logbook of business mileage. This is not negotiable. The logbook detail must have in it the purpose of the trip and who did you go to visit and why. Yes, it’s like climbing Mount Everest but when you have done it, it will feel like a huge achievement!
So basically, if you’re not really sure, it’s better to submit, than not submit
Efiling profile
For those of you submitting a return, you will need to establish whether you already have an efiling profile – this is a user name and password for you to access your on-line tax return. If you have never done this before, you will need to register for efiling. SARS has made this process simpler, and this should not necessitate a visit to SARS. I would recommend asking a tax practitioner to assist you with this.