Personal tax filing 2017 opens on 1 July

The tax filing season officially starts on 1 July 2017 for the 2017 tax year (1 March 2016 to 28 February 2017). It is anticipated that the closing date for e-filing submissions will be the end of November 2017 for normal taxpayers and the end of January 2018 for provisional taxpayers.

Pricing
Our charges for completing tax returns will depend on when we receive your information. Premium pricing will kick in for last minute returns to try and avoid the challenges we face every year. Contact us about our introductory offers.

Please note we reserve the right to charge a surcharge on the completion of tax returns that require the drafting of additional schedules.

The cost of completing these tax returns will include the following services:

• Collection and collation of supporting documentation necessary to complete your tax return.
• Completion and filing of the tax return.
• Checking of assessment and notifying you of the result thereof.
• Submitting any additional information requested by SARS via e-Filing.

Process
Returns that are submitted via e-Filing are generally assessed within a couple of minutes and the assessment will be forwarded to you in cases where payments to SARS need to be made. If you are due a refund, please keep an eye on your bank account and notify me if you have not received it within 30 days. Due to the volume of returns submitted it is not possible to monitor the progress of each refund payment. SARS no longer sends out notifications where they experience bank account problems; and due to Call Centre congestion and the risk of fraud they are loathe to assist with refund verifications.

If you have all the necessary documentation to complete your tax return and would like to be one of the ‘early birds’ please can you get this information through to me as soon as possible and the work will be processed on a first come, first served basis.

Provided you are on my e-Filing profile we will endeavour to lodge your return within 72 hours. For new clients your details will need to be loaded onto my e-Filing profile. Once loaded into e-Filing it takes approximately 48 hours for the profile to be activated. Please note that the information that you provide in this regard must be exactly that which is reflected on e-Filing, otherwise the request will be rejected.

In the event of SARS making an error on the assessment the tax return completion fee includes a maximum of 30 minutes consulting with SARS on your behalf. Any interventions that exceed this period will be billed at an hourly consulting rate of R 650 plus VAT. This approach is necessary due to the ever increasing errors made by SARS. Should you wish to take up the issue personally we will forward you all the necessary supporting documentation to do so.

Once all the information requested above is received the tax return will be prepared to the point where it is ready to be submitted to SARS. You will receive a confirmation and an invoice before you file. You need to sign this confirmation and submit payment before we can file your return. Your tax return will then be lodged via e-Filing. It has unfortunately become necessary to operate in this manner as the Tax Division has recently been saddled with a significant amount of bad debt.

Information requirements

To complete your tax return accurately and timeously we require the following information:

• IRP5 certificate / s (Please request a copy from your employer so that we can verify that the IRP5 agrees to the IRP5 on the pre-populated tax return).
• IT 3(a)’s relating to untaxed income, IT 3(b)’s for interest and dividends and IT 3(c)’s for any capital gains received.
• Sale of any capital assets.
• Details of any other income that you may have received from any sources (e.g. if earning rental income we would need the total income earned in the year and a schedule of the expenses incurred in generating the rental income (i.e. interest paid on bond, levies, management fees, repairs and maintenance, electricity / lights and water etc.).
• Medical aid tax certificate.
• Retirement annuity tax certificate.
• Travel details: opening and closing mileage, business / private km’s, total km’s travelled, car make and model and original cash purchase price. You are required to maintain a detailed logbook if you want to claim business mileage against your travel allowance. This detail includes the clear separation of the business and private mileage undertaken and the listing of the clients visited daily. Please email this logbook to me.
• Should you have use of a company car please note that you are required to maintain a detailed logbook. In the event of a SARS review / audit this detailed logbook will need to be sent to them. Please email this logbook to me.
• If you earn mainly commission (more than 50% of total remuneration) then we require a schedule listing the expenses that you incurred during the tax year to earn that commission. Please retain the supporting documentation for 5 years as SARS may audit you at any time.

If any of the details listed below have changed please notify me so that we can make the necessary changes on the tax return:

• Marital status (kindly advise if you are married in / out of community of property). If you are married in community of property and receive investment or rental income in addition to your salary please send through your spouse’s name and ID number.
• Residential and postal address.
• Telephone / cell phone numbers / email address.
• Bank details: account number / holder, branch code and type of account (very important). If these details change you will be required to take a certified copy of your ID, proof of residence and original current bank statement (with bank stamp on it) to your nearest SARS office in person. SARS requires you to do this in person due to recent occurrences of fraud.