What’s New?

25 June 2018 – New way to object to penalties
Previously one source code was available to object to the different types of additional taxes for all assessments and penalties. The previous source code was 9997 – Additional Taxes/USP & Interest, including 89Q (2) Interest. SARS has enhanced this process so that you can now object to the following penalties separately:

• 9987 – Tax-free investment penalty   
• 9990 – Underestimation of provisional taxpayer (Par20)
• 9991 – Non-submission of provisional taxpayer(Par20A)
• 9992 – Omission of Income
• 9988 – Underpayment of Provisional Taxpayer(89Q(2))
• 9993  – Late or Non-submission of tax return    

30 June 2017 – Implementation of an automated Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) Dispute Management process On 30 June 2017, SARS introduced an automated dispute management process for PAYE as part of our ongoing commitment to delivering a better service to taxpayers.

The new automated system now enables employers to lodge disputes via eFiling, manage their tax profiles better and also have a consolidated view of all disputes lodged for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and now PAYE. Please take note of the following:

• eFiling Guided Process (PIT, CIT, VAT and PAYE): To assist employers in following the correct dispute sequence and complete all required information eFiling now entails an entirely guided process. The eFiling guided process ensures that the dispute is submitted according to legislative requirements and thereby eliminating any possible invalid disputes from being submitted to SARS.
  
  The new PAYE dispute management process has a wide range of benefits that will make managing tax affairs more efficient and these include:

• It provides the ability to lodge disputes including Request for Remission (RFR), Notice of Objection (NOO) and Notice of Appeal (NOA) on eFiling platform.
• The ability to Request for Reasons (RFRE) via eFiling.
• The ability to Request suspension of payment via eFiling.
• The ability to submit reasons for late submission of the Dispute via eFiling.
• All dispute correspondence can be viewed at the click of a button, and where applicable, supporting  documents can be uploaded via eFiling.
• Employers will have a consolidated view of all disputes lodged for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and now PAYE.
• Outcome letters for RFRs and NOOs, Request for late submission as well as Suspension of Payment are conveniently available on the taxpayer’s eFiling profile.
• The process provides the ability to dispute multiple periods on one dispute form up to a maximum of 12 periods for VAT and PAYE.
• The ability to submit disputes will be based on user submission rights.

• Request for Reasons: SARS has implemented an electronic Request for Reasons process via eFiling for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Company Income Tax (CIT) and Value-Added Tax (VAT). This functionality will now be available for PAYE as well.
  
  The Request for Reasons functionality allow taxpayers to request reasons for the assessment where the grounds provided in the assessment do not sufficiently enable a taxpayer to understand the basis of the assessment and to formulate an objection, where the taxpayer is aggrieved by the assessment. Once the system has identified that a valid Request for Reasons has been submitted, the period within which an objection must be lodged will automatically be extended by the period permitted by the Dispute Resolution Rules. The Request for Reasons case management workflow will further allow SARS to improve its tracking and management of request for reason requests. 
• Request to allow late submission of a dispute for PIT, CIT, VAT and PAYE: The new dispute management process will introduce a separate condonation workflow whereby the employer will be allowed to submit the Request for Reasons, Notice of Objection (NOO) or Notice of Appeal (NOA) after the periods prescribed by the Dispute Resolution Rules have lapsed. Prior to the introduction of the separate workflow, the condonation process was included in the actual dispute process.
  
  The new automated condonation process allows for SARS to attend to the request for late submission before the Dispute or Request for Reasons case can be created and considered by SARS. If the Request for Reasons, NOO or NOA was submitted late, the employer will be prompted to provide reasons for the late submission. The new condonation process will ensure that the request for late submission is aligned with legislation as SARS will now inform the employer upfront of the outcome of the late submission instead of classifying the dispute as invalid.
• Suspension of payments on PAYE: Employers will now be able to request suspension of payments pending the outcome of a dispute on PAYE via eFiling. This is in line with already implemented suspension of payments that was implemented for PIT, CIT and VAT.
  
  Top tip: See our guide on How to submit a Dispute via eFiling.

How can I request a Request for Correction (RFC)?

The RFC will be available through:

• eFiling – this channel can be used by eFilers to request, complete and submit the correction.
  
  • Logon to eFiling
  • Select
    • Returns
    • Returns History
    • The applicable type of tax (e.g. Income Tax, VAT, etc.)
    • The applicable return/declaration.
  • Click Open on the far right.

Once you are on the workpage, select Request Correction:  

Top Tips:

• If the Request Correction button isn’t available (e.g. greyed out), this means that you’re not able to submit a request. You will need to lodge an objection.
• Make sure you submit a complete revised return/declaration, and not just the differences.

Important information for taxpayers when completing a RFC

• You will only be allowed to adjust the last version of each declaration, therefore ensure the correct version is always adjusted.
• You won’t be allowed to increase the input tax when doing a revision on a past tax period. If you wish to deduct input tax available to a past tax period, a deduction can be made in the next tax period or any future tax period. This can only be done if the deduction is made within five years from the date of the first claim for the input tax.

Top Tip: After correcting a VAT201 for the second time onwards (e.g. version 3), relevant material (supporting documents) must be sent with the submission to support the change(s) made.

When won’t the RFC be available?

A RFC won’t be allowed in the following circumstances:

• You will need to wait for the outcome where:
  • There is an on-going audit
  • The one RFC which is allowed was sent or
  • The relevant material (supporting documents) has already been sent.
• Where an audit case was completed or a revised declaration was done by a SARS user.
• For Income Tax (Personal, Corporate or Trusts) three years after the assessment or where the decision wasn’t allowed.
• For any VAT tax period more than five years after the assessment and for Diesel any tax period more than two years.

You’ll need to lodge an objection.

Please note: For VAT only, if an ADR1 was completed for a specific period you will need to go to a branch to submit a NOA (Notice of Appeal) as eFiling does not have a history of the ADR submission and will allow you to submit a NOO(Notice of Objection) for the period.
 
Taxpayers can also now request suspension of payment electronically at the same time as filing the Dispute. Please note that Suspension of Payment can be requested with Dispute at a Branch and not via eFiling as eFiling only supports standalone Suspension of Payment and not Suspension with Dispute. 
 
Please note that the RFR form and the Dispute forms can no longer be requested via the SARS Contact Centre.
 
Should you realise that you made an error when completing your return, the Request for Correction process allows you to correct a previously submitted return/declaration for:

Income Tax

• Individual Income Tax Returns (ITR12) and Provisional Tax (IRP6)
• Companies and Close Corporations (ITR14) and
• Trusts (ITR12T).
   

Value-Added Tax (VAT)

• Vendor Declaration (VAT201), only in the following scenarios:
  • Overstated: The vendor wants to decrease the VAT201 for a specific tax period.
  • Understated: The vendor wants to increase the VAT201 for a specific tax period.

To access this page in different languages click on the links below:

• Sesotho
• IsiZulu
• Afrikaans