Tax season begins: SARS unveils 'pre-warning' system to avoid audits

Tax season is opening soon, the deadline for non-provisional taxpayers is October 23.

• The SA Revenue Service has announced that auto-assessment of taxpayers will begin once again from 1 July this year.
• Taxpayers who are not self-assessed will have time from July 13 to October 23, or January 22, 2027 for provisional taxpayers, to submit their tax returns.
• New SARS commissioner Johnstone Makhubu promised better service, but also asked taxpayers to be honest and accurate when submitting tax returns.
• For more financial news, visit News24 Business.

Fewer taxpayers will receive the dreaded notification that they have been “selected for verification” in the upcoming tax filing season.

The SA Revenue Service (SARS) has introduced a new measure – declaration alerts – as a kind of “ear-warning system”, consisting of pop-up messages that inform taxpayers of any missing or unverified data. If they add that information to the satisfaction of the Revenue Service, they will not have to endure the cumbersome full verification process, commonly referred to as an “audit.”

SARS has also simplified tax returns and communications, and enhanced the capabilities of its AI assistant, Lavazi.

Following the security breaches on e-filing profiles last year, SARS has also stepped up security, introducing biometric verification and two-factor authentication on its platform.

Johnstone Makhubu, who stepped into the role of SARS commissioner in May, said on Thursday the revenue service had listened to taxpayers' complaints and was focused on getting the basics right this year.

Its auto-assessment capacity will include 200,000 more complex provisional taxpayers this year, meaning around 6 million taxpayers will be auto-assessed, compared to 5.8 million last year. Some provisional taxpayers with simple tax returns were automatically assessed last year.

Makhubu says SARS seeks to “move from administrator to service provider, from enforcer to compliance partner and from complex to simple by design”.

During the tax season, SARS conducted approximately 15 million interactions with taxpayers, and Makhubu urged people to remain patient. If your neighbor was self-assessed on 2 July, don't rush to SARS to ask when you will be – self-assessments are done in batches, given that there are 6 million people involved in the process, but it will all be done by 12 July, with taxpayers who are owed refunds expected to receive them within 72 hours.

Makhubu once again emphasized the seven-year legacy of former commissioner Edward Kieswetter, who retired at the end of April, saying he was building on “very solid ground”.

His focus for the next five years will be on building trust between SARS and taxpayers and accelerating modernisation.

“It is our firm belief that at the rate technology is advancing, administrations that do not keep up with it will be left behind.”

Makhubu said six things would be important during his tenure as commissioner:

• maintaining stability in SARS;
• Prioritizing people-centred leadership;
• recognizing merit;
• Values-driven leadership, particularly the principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, ethical conduct, professionalism and human dignity;
• Service excellence, knowing that this will increase voluntary compliance; And
• Relations and education with taxpayers to counter misinformation about what SARS does.

“The slogan ‘SARS, at your service’ needs to go beyond words,” he said.

SARS Commissioner Johnstone Makhubu.

2025 tax season

Makhubu says the 2025 tax season had some complex processes, particularly involving the two-pot system payment.

There were also data and process inefficiencies. Self-assessment depends on third party submissions. He said, sometimes these third parties change the data late, even when auto-assessment has already been done, which means taxpayers face hassles due to changes in assessment.

Makhubu warned that no one will be able to file a tax return before July 13 – including those who want to file if they disagree with their auto-assessment.

Makhubu called on taxpayers to accept responsibility for their tax returns, even when using tax practitioners.

Makhubu urged taxpayers to be wary of scams, which are extremely common during tax season.

Watch the entire media conference here: