You have six options to register for tax: 1. Automatic registration for Personal Income Tax When you register for SARS eFiling for the first time and you do not have a tax reference number, SARS will automatically register you and issue a tax reference number. You must have a valid South African ID to register for eFiling. To register on eFiling: 1. Click on Register2. Follow the prompts You can also register for SARS eFiling on the SARS MobiApp and follow the same steps. If you need help to register for eFiling, watch our tutorial video on the SARS YouTube channel by clicking on the image below. 2. Register on the SARS Online Query System (SOQS) You can register for Personal Income Tax by completing a request for registration on the SARS Online Query System (SOQS). 3. Register using the SARS USSD services The SARS USSD channel allows users to access SARS services by dialling a service code. By dialling *134*7277#, users are presented with a list of menu items to select from, including Personal Income Tax (PIT) registration. For more information visit SARS Mobile Tax Services. 4. Register using WhatsApp To initiate an interaction, taxpayers should simply text a greeting i.e., “Hi or Hello”. SARS will respond with a description of the service offerings, including Personal Income Tax (PIT) registration and a service request menu. To engage SARS via WhatsApp: For more information visit SARS Mobile Tax Services. 5. Register through your employer with SARS eFiling Ask your employer to register you with SARS. eFiling lets employers register their employees with SARS for Income Tax. See the Guide on Tax Reference Number (TRN) Enquiry Services on eFiling. 6. Register at a SARS branch office You can visit a SARS branch, where a service consultant can help you register for tax. Click here to find your nearest SARS branch. In short, you will need a copy of a valid identity document, driving license, passport, temporary identity document, asylum seekers certificate or permit together with the original identification. In other words, if you are a non-resident, you can produce a passport, permit or asylum seekers certificate, it must be the original and a copy of the original. When visiting a branch, see for more detail – supporting documents. Unsure if you are registered? To find out if you are registered for Income Tax, ask your Employer, use the SARS Online Query System (select “What’s my tax number?” as your query type), use the SARS WhatsApp service or call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277. Good to know: SARS will not provide your tax number to another person, unless the person is your tax practitioner or has Power of Attorney (POA) to deal with your tax affairs. Request a Notice of Registration (IT150) A Notice of Registration (IT150) will show your tax reference number. You can request a notice of registration through any of these options: Since July 2022, SARS automatically registers certain individuals for income tax based on information from third parties. Automatically registered individuals will receive an SMS and a letter from SARS notifying them of their registration. The letter also explains how to access SARS’s services and lists their rights and obligations. To access this page in different languages click on the links below:
TAX SEASON
What’s new? 20 March 2026 – Budget 2026 Frequently Asked QuestionsKey Filing Season and Auto Assessment changes changes from Budget 2026: FAQs on the Filing Season changes Filing Season Income Tax return filing dates See the definition of provisional taxpayers here. Want to know more about auto-assessments? See our How does Auto-Assessments work webpage. Useful information Useful videos Changes for 2025 Filing Season Non-residents To make it easier for South African taxpayers who are not South African tax residents but who have South African source-based income, SARS made enhancements to the 2025 ITR12 tax return. These enhancements aim to ensure that non-residents complete the correct required fields in the return. An interim solution to activate this part of the tax return has been introduced via the SARS Online Query System (SOQS). This allows non-resident taxpayers to request the non-resident section of the tax return. A more permanent solution directly on the tax return through the tax return “wizard” will be introduced later. See the steps and more information here. Certain Provisional Taxpayers Can Participate in Auto Assessment For the 2025 Tax Season, SARS will identify eligible provisional taxpayers and invite them to express their interest to receive an Auto Assessment. Eligible and interested provisional taxpayers will be included in the Auto Assessment population. Section 6quat With effect from 1 March 2025, section 6quat of the Income Tax Act (the ITA) has been amended for taxpayers to fully use foreign tax credits for the taxes paid on capital gains in the foreign jurisdiction to the same extent in relation to the taxes paid in South Africa on the same gains. From the 2025 tax year, SARS will maintain any unused foreign tax credits to be carried forward automatically in the subsequent years of assessment, up to six years. Section 11(nA) and 11(nB) With effect from 1 March 2025, employers must report sections 11(nA) and 11(nB) of the ITA details on the IRP5/IT3(a) certificate. These changes will affect the ITR12 tax return so that section 11(nA) source code 4042 will be reflected on the IRP5/IT3(a) tax certificate, and a new source code 4058 relating to section 11(nB) will be reflected in the “Other Deduction” field. Definition of “Provisional Taxpayer” in Paragraph 1 of the Fourth Schedule With effect from 1 March 2025, a labour broker who received an approved certificate of exemption will be included in the definition of provisional taxpayer. This means that these labour brokers must comply with provisional taxpayer requirements such as submitting IRP6 tax returns. Section 12H Learnership Agreement The section 12H (of the ITA) Learnership Agreement termination date has been extended from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027. Allowable Interest Expenses on Foreign Interest in Terms of Practice Note 31 The “Allowable interest expenses incurred in the production of interest received” line item has been introduced within the “Foreign Interest” container of the ITR tax return to align with Practice Note 31. Backdated (Antedated) Salaries and Pensions New source code 3623 and 3673 has been introduced to the ITR12 tax return for backdated (antedated) salaries and pensions. Section 10(1)(i) interest exemption For section 10(1)(i) (of the ITA) exemption to be applied correctly, the executor will be able to declare the “Interest Earned Date From” and “Interest Earned Date To” within the investment-income container on the deceased estate tax return where such date exceeds the year of assessment during which the taxpayer became deceased. Exempt Local and Foreign Dividends Two new source codes have been introduced for local (source code 4306) and foreign (source code 4307) dividends within the non-taxable container on the ITR12 tax return. Section 9H Change of Residence From the 2025 tax year, RSA tax-resident and non-resident taxpayers will be presented with a specific ITR12 and IRP6 tax-return type based on taxpayer registration status available with SARS, i.e.: ITR12 IRP6 Trust Income Changes From the 2025 tax year, SARS will apply a 50% communal estate where income from a trust is declared, and the taxpayer is married in community of property. Unused Balances such as Section 11F, Section 18A, Section 20 SARS will print the note given below on the ITA34, in instances where unused balances are not automatically carried over to the subsequent year of assessment: SARS did not consider your carryover/brought forward amount(s) as the current return is under the verification review. SARS will initiate the amendment of the return to take the carryover/brought forward amount into account once the verification case is finalised. Enhancement Of Banking Details To enhance user experience with the Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form and the ITR12 tax return, taxpayers will be presented with a list of their verified banking details available to SARS. Taxpayers must select this information when updating their bank-account details rather than manually capturing them. Reinstatement of RSA Tax Residency The Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form will enable a taxpayer who ceased to be an RSA tax resident in the past to indicate the reinstated date on the “Reinstatement Date of RSA Tax Residency” line item. See a prototype of the enhanced Personal Income Tax form (TR12) here. The online version is on eFiling. Are your SARS details up to date? Make sure everything is up to date for a hassle-free filing experience. This year we will again issue auto-assessments to taxpayers whose tax affairs are less complicated. If you are in agreement with your auto-assessment, then there is no need to ‘accept’ the assessment. If a refund is due to you, it will automatically be paid into your bank account. When we start issuing the auto-assessments, you will be able to check your auto-assessment status here but wait for the SMS/email notice before you login to eFiling or MobiApp. How does Auto-Assessment work? This year we will again issue auto-assessments to taxpayers whose tax affairs are less complicated. The first thing to do is to log into eFiling or the SARS MobiApp and view your assessment. You will see all the data we used to calculate your assessment. If you agree with the assessment, check if a refund is
TAFFIF AMENDMENTS 2026
The Tariff Amendments are made in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 by Notice in the Gazette. The Notices are arranged according to the publication date and grouped in the different years of issue, which can be accessed on the black navigation pane above. The implementation date has been indicated in bold where it differs from the publication date of a particular Notice for ease of reference. Publication Details Date GG and Notice Numbers Description Implementation Date 17 April 2026New! GG 54519R.7373 Amendment to Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the insertion of tariff subheading 7310.10.20, in order to increase the general rate of customs duty on conical steel drums, of steel, of a capacity of 210 li or more but not exceeding 234 li from free of duty to 15% (ITAC Report 735)Notice R.7373 17 April 2026 1 April 2026 GG 54445R.7340 Amendment to Part 5A of Schedule No. 1, to provide for a reduction of 300c/li in the rate of the general fuel levy from 410c/li to 110c/li on petrol and a reduction of 300c/li from 393c/li to 93c/li on diesel in order to give effect to the announcement by the Minister of Finance on 31 March 2026Notice R.7340 With effect from 1 April 2026 up to and including 5 May 2026 1 April 2026 GG 54445R.7341 Amendment to Part 3 of Schedule No. 6, as a consequence of the reduction in the general fuel levy as announced by the Minister of Finance on 31 March 2026; the diesel refund provisions are adjusted accordinglyNotice R.7341 With effect from 1 April 2026 up to and including 5 May 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7301 Amendment to Schedule No. 1, to implement the revised Tariff Rate Quota in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement (SADC-EU EPA)Notice R.7301 With retrospective effect from 1 September 2025 up to and including 31 December 2025 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7303 Amendment to Schedule No. 1, to implement the revised Tariff Rate Quota in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement (SADC-EU EPA)Notice R.7303 With retrospective effect from 1 January 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7302 Amendment to Schedule No. 1, to implement the revised Tariff Rate Quota in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement (SACUM-UK EPA)Notice R.7302 With retrospective effect from 1 September 2025 up to and including 31 December 2025 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7304 Amendment to Schedule No. 1, to implement the revised Tariff Rate Quota in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement (SACUM-UK EPA)Notice R.7304 With retrospective effect from 1 January 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7297 Amendment to Part 3F of Schedule No. 1, by an increase of R72 per tonne in the rate of environmental levy on carbon dioxide equivalent from R236 to R308 per tonne to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 25 February 2026Notice R.7297 With retrospective effect from 1 January 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7298 Amendment to Part 5A of Schedule No. 1, to provide for:an increase of 9c/li in the rate of the general fuel levy from 401c/li to 410c/li on petrol and an increase of 8c/li from 385c/li to 393c/li on diesel;the substitution to Note 8; andan increase of 5c/li in the carbon fuel levy from 14c/li to 19c/li for petrol and an increase of 6c/li from 17c/li to 23c/li for diesel, respectively,in order to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 25 February 2026Notice R.7298 With effect from 1 April 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7299 Amendment to Part 5B of Schedule No. 1, by an increase of 7c/li in the RAF levy from 218c/li to 225c/li on both petrol and diesel, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 25 February 2026Notice R.7299 With effect from 1 April 2026 27 March 2026 GG 54412R.7300 Amendment to Part 3 of Schedule No. 6, as a consequence of the increase in the general fuel levy and RAF levy as announced by the Minister of Finance in his budget speech of 25 February 2026; the diesel refund provisions are adjusted accordinglyNotice R.7300 With effect from 1 April 2026 19 March 2026 GG 54351R.7243 Amendment to Part 1 of Schedule No. 2, by the insertion of various items under item 215.02 in order to impose anti-dumping duties on certain flat-rolled products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel of a width of 600 mm or more, whether or not in coils (including products cut to length), not further worked than hot-rolled, including pickled and oiled, hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated, (excluding stainless and grain-oriented silicon electrical steel, classifiable under various tariff subheadings under Chapter 72 originating in or imported from the Peoples Republic of China, Japan and Taiwan (ITAC Report No. 767)Notice R.7243 19 March 2026 19 March 2026 GG 54351R.7244 Amendment to Part 1 of Schedule No. 2, by the insertion of various items under item 215.02 in order to impose anti-dumping duties on U, I and H sections of iron or non-alloy steel, not further worked than hot rolled, hot drawn, or extruded (excluding H sections of a height greater than 200 mm) and other angles and shapes of iron or non-alloy steel, of a height of 80 mm or more not further worked than hot rolled, hot drawn, or extruded, classifiable in tariff subheadings 7216.31, 7216.32, 7216.33 and 7216.50 originating in or imported from the Peoples Republic of China and Thailand (ITAC Report No. 759)Notice R.7244 19 March 2026 13 March 2026 GG 54318R.7219 Amendment to Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the insertion of rebate item 460.16/8414.60.20/01.08 in order to provide for a temporary rebate facility for the importation of cooker hoods of a domestic type having a maximum horizontal side not exceeding 120 cm, classifiable under tariff subheading 8414.60.20 (ITAC Report No. 746)Notice R.7219 13 March 2026 25 February 2026 Taxation Proposals as tabled by the Minister of Finance in his Budget Review 2026 at 14:20Taxation Proposals 25
What’s New at SARS
21 April 2026 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) in line with its strategic objectives of providing clarity and certainty and making it easy and simple for taxpayers to transact with the organization is assisting all employers and other third-party data providers to improve their data declarations. The submission period for these entities has already kicked off from 1 April 2026 to 31 May 2026. Traditionally, the spotlight has been filing season for individuals, however the underlying process that determines if the filing experience for individual taxpayers is smooth or cumbersome, whether it be due to accurate auto-assessments, less queries, or fewer disputes, is the submission period for employers and other third-part data providers. This period runs annually from 01 April to 31 May and requires employers and other mandated third-data providers to submit remuneration and financial data related to individual taxpayers for the preceding tax year (01 March 2025 – 28 February 2026). Third-party data providers that are required to submit third-party data include all employers, financial institutions, SARS-approved section 18A approved entities, co-operatives, mmedical aid schemes and Trusts, amongst others. A detailed list of third-party data providers who are mandated to submit is available at Third Party Data submission at a glance | South African Revenue Service. SARS relies on the data from employers and other third-party data providers to pre-populate and auto-assess the personal tax returns of individual taxpayers which allows the taxpayer to confirm the details on their tax return before submitting. Pre-population of third-party data is the first step to SARS auto-assessing roughly 6 million taxpayers on an annual basis. The non-submission or submission of inaccurate third-party data negatively impacted taxpayers, in that they were excluded from the auto-assessment process. When third-party data is submitted accurately and timeously, taxpayers can be auto-assessed, providing them with an easier filing experience. It is therefore critical that employers and third-party data providers submit the latest, accurate information on time. SARS has noted that some employers and third-party data providers appear not to be fully aware of their reporting obligations and have not adapted to comply with the evolving regulatory requirements. Some employers and third-party data providers wait till too close to the deadline to submit the necessary information, which sometimes makes it difficult to resolve discrepancies in the data provided. During the 2025 tax filing season for individuals, incomplete data accounted for the following verifications: For the 2026 season, SARS is aiming for behaviour change by ensuring employers and third-party data providers are ‘pre-filing ready’ and submit earlier than in previous years. Technical support sessions will be held where SARS subject matter experts will assist with submissions. SARS urges third-party data providers to use SARS-approved channels, namely: Third-party data providers must register for eFiling to activate these channels if not already registered. Further guidance may be obtained in the business requirement specifications (BRS) and user guides on the SARS website at IT3 Data Submission | South African Revenue Service. Employers may refer to Annual Employer Declaration process. For further information, please contact SARSMedia@sars.gov.za TAX PRACTITIONER VERIFICATION PROCESS IMPROVED 21 April 2026 – SARS is modernising the Tax Practitioner registration process to improve governance and compliance. What is changing? How does this benefit you? Updated guides: For more information go to https://www.sars.gov.za/whats-new-at-sars/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-0
