You may be employed by someone, but for one reason or another- you don't receive an IRP5 and no amount of begging or pleading will result in one being produced. If you're one of these “IRP5-less” individuals, this shouldn’t keep you from completing your tax return. 

Below are some situations where taxpayers will not receive an IRP5 - read on to find out if any of these apply to you and if so, what to do about it.

1. You work overseas for a foreign employer.

If you work overseas for a foreign employer and no tax is deducted from your salary in South Africa, you will not receive an IRP5. This is because an IRP5 is only issued by South African employers to employees who pay tax in South Africa.

What to do:

If you qualify for the foreign employment income exemption (i.e you pass the *183 day/60 continuous day test) then your income should not be taxed in South Africa. Read more about the foreign employment income exemption here. However, you should still declare this foreign income in your Tax Return (ITR12) in order to give SARS a complete view of all of your earnings.

Go to TaxTim’s menu option “Foreign Employment” and declare the foreign income earned and also declare the details for the foreign employment exemption, if you qualify for this exemption. Or, if you’re completing your return in SARS eFiling, tick the opening wizard to indicate you received foreign income and fill in the details in the correct section and if you qualify for the foreign income exemption, you need to declare the foreign employment exemption details under the "Other Deductions/Exemptions" section.

If you do not qualify for the foreign employment income exemption, then this foreign income should be taxed in South Africa. Navigate to TaxTim’s menu option called “Foreign Employment” and declare the income amount and related foreign tax withheld here. In SARS eFiling, tick the opening wizard to indicate you received foreign income and fill in the details in the relevant section.

Note that any tax paid in the foreign country will be off-set against tax to be paid in South Africa.

* For the 2020 and 2021 years of assessment, this requirement has been reduced from 183 days to 117 days.

2. You work for a foreign employer in South Africa who does not withhold tax.

What to do:

Remember that if you have not had monthly tax deducted from your salary, then you will not receive an IRP5. In this situation, you should be paying provisional tax twice a year. Whether you have paid provisional tax or not, either way you can navigate to TaxTim’s menu option called “Other Income” and declare your earnings here. In SARS eFiling, tick the opening wizard to indicate you received “Other Taxable Receipts and Accruals” and fill in the details in the relevant section.

3. You contract for a company who does not deduct tax from your salary.

What to do:

Remember if you have not had tax deducted from your salary, you will not receive an IRP5. In this case, you need navigate to TaxTim’s menu option called “Self-Employed, Independent Contractor, Freelancer” and declare your earnings here. If you are completing your return in SARS eFiling, tick the opening wizard to indicate you received “Local Business Trade and Professional Income” and fill in the details in the relevant section.

Check out our decision tree here to determine if your employer is treating you correctly as an independent contractor, or if in fact they should be deducting monthly tax (and issuing you with an IRP5).

4. Your previous employer has closed down and there’s nobody to contact who can assist you with obtaining your IRP5.

What to do:

You can check on your SARS eFiling profile to see if your IRP5 has been submitted to SARS (this should have been done by your ex-employer). This can be done by requesting your Tax Return in eFiling and it hopefully will already be populated with your IRP5 details. You can then use these details to complete the “Salary/IRP5/IT3a/Pension income” section of TaxTim manually (unless you chose the import option upfront in which case this step won’t be necessary).

If you cannot find it online, go to the police station and swear an affidavit stating that you are unable to obtain your IRP5 and include the relevant reasons. You will then need to go to SARS in person and submit the affidavit, together with your payslips/proof of earnings for the year to a consultant who should be able to help you complete your tax return.

If you don’t receive an IRP5 for any other reason and you are still confused as to where or how to report your earnings in your Tax Return, please contact TaxTim’s helpdesk and we will be happy to assist!