- SARS paid out R40 billion in tax refunds last filing season, which was more than it collected from taxpayers during the same period.
- SARS says getting tax refunds back into South African hands keeps the economy going and SARS wants to pay them out faster.
SARS paid out R40 billion in tax refunds during the last filing season. Commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu says this is not a problem. That's it.
Makhubu told journalists at the launch of the filing season 2026 on Thursday that the filing period is a time of the year when SARS becomes a net payer. The Revenue Service collects less than it pays out, and Makhubu says this is deliberate.
Makhubu said, “The filing season is actually a net cashout flow, we rarely collect much revenue during this season. We would prefer to pay a lot more.”
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He said the R40 billion paid to taxpayers last year does not just go out of the system. This flows back into homes and businesses and has a massive economic impact.
“Rs40 billion in the hands of citizens has a multiplier effect, and so I believe as a tax administration we need to pay out legitimate refunds in a seamless manner as quickly as possible because that money goes to fuel the economy even more,” Makhubu said.
The 2026 filing season opens July 1. SARS is expected to self-assess about six million taxpayers between July 1 and 12 using data from employers, banks, medical schemes and superannuation funds. Makhubu said the program has been expanded to include an additional 200,000 provisional taxpayers with direct tax cases this year.
Taxpayers who receive an automatic assessment and agree to it do not need to file. Those who want to add deductions or correct their returns have until October 23, 2026, to do so.