SARS updates tax forms
10 March 2009
Tax forms for the 2009 tax season have been updated and improved, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said in a statement. This was part of "the ongoing work to simplify the income tax process and taking into account feedback received and lessons learned during Tax Season 2008", SARS said.
Draft versions of all income tax forms for the 2009 Tax Season had been released for comment and feedback from taxpayers and practitioners.
One of the biggest changes was to the Income Tax Return Request form (ITRR). "The ITRR now includes the taxpayer's details from their previous income tax return. "This means that most taxpayers whose tax affairs have not changed since last year will only have to sign the ITRR and submit it," the statement said.
Taxpayers registered for eFiling and those who chose to submit a return via a SARS branch did not have to request an income tax return. "eFilers simply create their own return using a helpful wizard while those submitting via a branch simply arrive at their nearest branch with their supporting documents and SARS staff will create and complete a return for them on our system," SARS said.
Improvements to the Income Tax Return for Individuals (ITR12) included combining and simplifying the farming and business income sections, adding additional verification information under banking details for security purposes and introducing a new medical aid code (4040) to distinguish between contributions made via an employer (code 4005) and those contributions not reflected on an IRP5.
SARS said it encouraged both practitioners and taxpayers to access the draft forms and comment via the SARS website at www.sars.gov.za.
SARS also reminded taxpayers and practitioners of the timetable for Tax Season 2009 as announced by the minister of finance in February's Budget. The 60 day PAYE reconciliation period for employers would begin on 1 April and end on 30 May and the filing period for individual income tax returns would follow from 1 July.
This year's deadlines for submission of income tax returns for individuals and trusts were September 18 for manual filers and November 20 for electronic submissions, SARS said. "SARS is hoping that Tax Season 2009 will build on the gains of the past two years which have shown an impressive switch to electronic submission of returns – and the resultant improvements in efficiency for taxpayers, practitioners and SARS."
Over 86 percent of all returns submitted during Tax Season 2008 were done via either the SARS eFiling system or electronically at SARS' branches.