In 2024, we have noticed that SARS is withholding refunds from taxpayers with outstanding tax returns, sometimes dating back many years. In some cases, SARS is requesting unfiled returns from as far back as 10-15 years ago, going back to when the taxpayer first registered for a tax number.

Block on eFiling submissions older than 5 years

This year, SARS introduced a change to eFiling that has frustrated many taxpayers. Returns older than five years are now blocked from being submitted on individual profiles, prompting a message that these must be filed at a branch.

Don't worry - TaxTim can help. There's no need to visit a SARS branch or make an appointment. If you have access to your documents, or if you need to file a nil return due to no income, outstanding tax returns can be submitted quickly and easily via TaxTim. Get started here.

Why does this happen?

Often taxpayers are unaware that they even had outstanding tax returns. Reasons include:

1) They previously earned below the tax / submission threshold

In the past SARS has stated that taxpayers do not need to file a tax return if they 1) earned below the minimum taxable threshold for that year, or 2) they only received one IRP5 from one employer with no deductions at all (just a salary) where this amount was less than R120 000 (up to 2012) or R250 000 (up to 2014) or R350 000 (up to 2019) and R500 000 from 2020 to date. Since you may now be earning above one of these thresholds and have to file, SARS wants to know why you are only declaring your income on a tax return now, and what has happened previously (because they have no tax return records for you).

2) Their employer registered for them

Sometimes taxpayers who earned very small amounts had their employer register them, without even knowing that this was the case. Often this happens to students who tutored at university, or waiters and other informal workers. Since SARS has initial tax records for you, but nothing since then, they want to know what happened in the interim. In this case filing old tax returns may even reveal an old tax refund waiting to be received.

How to confirm which returns are outstanding

TaxTim always advises taxpayers to submit a tax return every year, so that there aren’t any unexpected complications or unwelcome delays in getting your tax refund. See this article for more reasons to file.

Taxpayers are able to check if they have any outstanding tax returns by the following methods:

• Log onto SARS eFiling and click on the RETURNS TAB then click SARS Correspondence and click Request Historic IT Notices and then request a Statement of Account. Any outstanding returns should be reflected in the Compliance Information block.

I don't have any old documents - what now?

If you need to submit old tax returns and SARS requests supporting documents you don't have, click here for advice on what to do.