How to Change/Verify Your Bank Details at SARS

Updated 10 April 2024

SARS has recently issued a new guide with regards to updating your banking details with them. This was done in order to reduce the risk of refunds being paid into the wrong accounts and also to streamline the process, which has tended to be an onerous one in the past.

Change of bank details can be done:

• in person at a SARS branch (During the pandemic, it would be best to make a telephonic appointment with SARS and then send them your supporting documents, SARS will cont...

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Some common (and sometimes forgotten) tax deductions

Updated 27 June 2022

Too often, taxpayers rush when completing their tax return, and then they miss out on some expenses they are eligible to claim. Don’t overpay tax by overlooking these seven common tax breaks.

Contributions towards a Retirement Annuity

Your contributions towards retirement funds are deductible for tax up to a limit of 27,5% of the greater of your taxable income or remuneration (to a maximum of R350,000 per year).  This limit applies to the total contributions you make to any Pension, Provident or Retirement Annuity (RA) fund during the year...

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How to cruise through a travel audit efficiently

Updated 3 June 2022

Surely most of us love to travel, but traveling for business purposes is no fun when it comes to completing your tax return.

SARS has some rather onerous requirements, but as long as you know what you need, submitting your documents to SARS should be plain sailing.

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Why do I owe SARS more money?

Posted 19 April 2022

Once you’ve completed filing your tax return, it’s possible to find that instead of getting money back

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10 Tips to Pay Less Tax

Posted 18 August 2021

These tips are part of TaxTim's personalised recommendation tool called the Tax Health Score. Once you file your tax return with TaxTim,

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Tax on your travel allowance after Covid-19 lockdown regulations

Posted 1 April 2021

Do you receive a travel allowance from your employer because your job used to entail significant travel? As the Covid-19 pandemic hit and lockdown restrictions have curbed travel, you might be wondering how this will affect your taxes. Here’s what you need to know to avoid owing the taxman, even more, this tax season.

 

How does SARS tax my travel allowance?

Under normal circumstances, your employer would only offer you a travel allowance if your job requi...

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Do I earn enough to have to pay tax?

Posted 23 April 2020

Why must I pay tax, I don’t earn enough! Will I get a penalty if I don’t disclose all my income to SARS?

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FAQs: Travel expenses and Tax

Posted 22 April 2020

Travel expenses and their tax impact are a complex issue for many. It’s no surprise that it’s a common theme on our Helpdesk.

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Tax Breaks For All

Posted 21 April 2020

What?

1.Rebates

Who?
Everybody

Primary, secondary, and tertiary rebates – depending on your age.

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Who's (Legally) Allowed to File Your Tax Return?

Posted 12 April 2020

Tax isn’t the easiest of subjects to navigate. Besides the long list of legalese to master, there’s the fact that tax legislation

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How does Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) work?

Posted 10 April 2020

You may have seen the word PAYE on your IRP5 payslip or heard it mentioned by your employer, but have no idea of its meaning.

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Top Questions on tax seasons

Posted 4 June 2019

By now you would have seen the latest announcement by the SARS commissioner to increase the qualifying threshold for certain taxpayers

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Wear and Tear (Depreciation) Top Questions

Posted 21 May 2019

This week we zoom into Wear and Tear also commonly known as Depreciation. Below we've covered some of the top questions we've received from our Helpdesk. Take a quick read through our Q&As and see how your pressing depreciation questions can potentially be solved. 

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Tax Treatment for Uber Drivers

Posted 24 April 2019

If you are an Uber driver, you use your own vehicle/s to generate your income and you determine your own working hours, you will be treated as being self-employed  (i.e. an independent contractor) for tax purposes.

Since you do not earn a salary, you should be registered as a provisional taxpayer with SARS.

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What You Need to Know About Changes to the Tax Clearance System

Posted 23 February 2016

Tax compliance makes its way into many aspects of life and business. Perhaps you’re considering applying for a tender, or for a foreign investment allowance to move funds offshore, or even looking to emigrate and leave our shores. These are just a few examples of instances where you may be asked by a third party to provide a Tax Clearance Certificate.

And until now, the course of action to obtain your certificate has been a tedious one.

Upon request, SARS would check its records and verify that the taxpayer had filed all required tax returns, paid all taxes, penalties and interest due, before releasing a Tax Clearance Certificate confirming a good standing...

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Retirement Funds Tax Laws Effective 1 March 2016 - How SARS' New Changes Affect You!

Posted 10 February 2016

If you’re diligently putting money away for your retirement in the form of a pension, provident fund or retirement annuity, you may be curious – perhaps even a touch concerned – about the changes SARS has made to the retirement fund tax laws, which come into effect on 1 March 2016.

If you missed the news, here's a quick overview.

SARS have changed how contributions to retirement funds are treated from a tax perspective, as well as how your funds are managed when you retire...

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Thank you Minister - we expected worse! 2015 Budget

Posted 25 February 2015

New Finance Minister Nene delivers his first budget with some “better than expected” tax increases. The fight against corruption was highlighted with the minster announcing a series of reforms and procedures to be introduced both to curb corruption and make doing business with the state easier. The minister announced that R25bn would be saved in expenditure over the next two years, but R16.8bn is to be raised this year via tax increases and a remarkably large rise in the fuel and road accident fund levies. To be honest, we expected greater tax increases from the minister, thankfully he spared us some of the pain! ...

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2014 Budget - A move to economic transformation

Posted 26 February 2014

In delivering what could possibly be his last annual budget and perhaps in an election year a very pragmatic one, Minister Pravin Gordhan painted a rather positive picture for the future of South Africa, whilst at the same time warning of the impact the global economy is having on the South African economy. He too, had a “good story” to tell of how well managed the economy is and how we have survived the economic downturn of the last half decade. The minister, like his predecessors b...

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SARS Tax Tables for 2014

Posted 4 July 2013

Tax rates for Individuals and Trusts
Income tax rates: Natural persons (that's you) and special trusts.

2013 tax year: 1 March 2013 - 28 Feb 2014.

Individuals and Special Trusts:



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The effect of the 2013/14 annual budget speech on the average South African taxpayer

Posted 28 February 2013

It was with great enthusiasm that we at TaxTim awaited delivery by the Minister of Finance of his annual budget speech this afternoon, especially after some of the shocks experienced by taxpayers and tax professionals last year. Surprisingly he delivered a very mild budget in terms of individuals with the Minister stating, “No tax rises.” The main focus areas relating to tax in this budget speech were on compliance, tax evasion and big companies seeking to shift their income around the world in order to avoid higher taxes...

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SARS Tax Tables for 2013

Posted 18 January 2013

Tax rates for Individuals and Trusts
Income tax rates: Natural persons (that's you) and special trusts.

2013 tax year: 1 March 2012 - 28 Feb 2013.


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How to manage your tax affairs running a business in your own name as a sole-proprietor

Posted 1 October 2012

South Africa is brimming with entrepreneurs and small business owners who keep the economy running. These people may or may not be earning a regular salary too, but all of them operate a non-registered business in their own name - a so-called sole-proprietorship. In this blog post we will discuss how such a business pays tax, how it is taxed, and how to separate personal and business affairs to make tax deductions correctly.

To register or not to register as a company? ...

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What to do if your second ITA34 assessment says you now owe SARS money

Posted 6 September 2012

If you have ever survived a SARS audit, you may have been issued with a "revised assessment" or second ITA34 that doesn't make much sense. It probably says that you now owe SARS some money, despite being due a refund. Don't be alarmed though, if you read lower down the new ITA34 you will find that in fact you are still due a refund, only it is probably smaller than before.

For example:

First IT34A (before audit):
SARS says: "Your assessment has been concluded and reflects an amount refundable to you of R-16 636.10"...

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SARS is asking for more documents. Are they auditing me?

Posted 13 August 2012

For most people upon submission of their year-end income tax return, either nothing much will happen or a refund will be due, this being paid back within a matter of days. However in a small number of cases SARS requires extra documentation or proof to be submitted so that they can verify that everything you submitted in your tax return is correct. Don’t be afraid, although many people consider this an “audit” it isn’t nearly as frightening as that and doesn't mean you have done anything wrong. A true audit would be SARS requesting years of past documentation and opening up for examination all your tax affairs from previous years. ...

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How do I calculate my earnings after tax? Try our income tax calculator

Posted 6 June 2012

Most employees negotiate their salary based on the gross amount (or cost to company) - the whole amount paid by their employer. Since income tax is deducted from this gross amount, in most cases the taxpayer doesn't know how much money actually goes into their bank account each month, after tax.

SARS levies employee's tax monthly and employers must pay that over to SARS every month. This tax is called PAYE (Pay As You Earn). PAYE is calculated based on your taxable income. This is different to your gross income and is calculated as follows: ...

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