E-filing gets off to a good start on Monday

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The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has confirmed that tax filing season kicked off to a good start on Monday with 191 000 tax returns filed online.

SARS revealed over five million taxpayers had already been assessed through the auto assessment process which took place within the first 14 days of this month with R10 billion in refunds paid in the same period.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said greater investment in modernising SARS digital platforms has made it faster and easier for taxpayers to comply with their tax obligation.

“So what did yesterday, day one of filing season, look like? We had 1,9 million e-filing logs throughout the day, peaking at around 150 concurrent users in an hour. Yesterday, 191 000 returns were filed of which 183 000 were filed digitally, and only 7 700 or 3% of these returns were filed via our tax service centre around the country. This is great because it means that most of you did not have to brave the cold and spend time in the queue in order to fulfil your legal obligation.”

Meanwhile, SARS says it has become aware of scammers pretending to represent the revenue collector with the aim of defrauding taxpayers.

The tax revenue collector says it saved R100 billion last year alone through its improved risk and fraud detection capabilities.

Briefing the media in Cape Town, SARS Commissioner warned taxpayers against opening any email links and WhatsApp messages purporting to represent SARS.

“Do not open or respond to emails that you do not recognise, beware of emails that ask for personal tax and e-filing login details. SARS would never ask for those credentials, your passwords, your pins your credit card information through these links. SARS will never ask for your banking details in any communication that you receive via post, email or sms. However, for the purpose of telephonic engagement and authentication, SARS will take due diligent effort to verify your personal details.”

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter briefs the media on Tax Filing Season 2024: