View Document - Parliament of South Africa

753 FRIDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2008
754
trusts and exempt institutions according
to staggered deadlines.
Progress report:
● Tax Season for Employers: By
30 September 2008, 226 228 employers
out of a total of 250 000
active on the register had submitted
EMP501 reconciliation declarations
accompanied by 14 294 962 employee
tax certificates. This represents
an increase of over 20%
compared to 2007.
● Tax Season for Individuals: A number
of enhancements have been introduced
this year to the process of
income tax return submission. The
most significant of these have been
the introduction of pre-populated income
tax returns for employees
whose employers have provided their
tax certificate information. A second
key change has been the requirement
for taxpayers to order a customised
income tax return containing only
those income and deduction sections
relevant to the taxpayer’s unique
circumstances. Taxpayers are able to
request a tax returns in four ways:
o Via mail: A letter was sent to
all taxpayers who submitted
manual returns in 2007 explaining
the process this year
and providing them with a
form to request their 2008
income tax return.
o Via phone: A new toll-free
call centre number (0800 00
SARS) was introduced on
1 September which allows
taxpayers to order a tax return
by following automatic
voice prompts.
o Via a branch: Taxpayers can
visit any SARS branch along
with their relevant tax information
where a return can be
issued and completed for
them.
o Via eFiling: Using eFiling,
taxpayers can construct their
own unique income tax return.
While we are only one month
into the current campaign,
indications are that taxpayers
are responding well to the
changes.
● eFiling: The growth of eFiling as a
preferred channel of submission among
both tax practitioners and taxpayers
continues to exceed expectations. Following
the introduction of eFiling for
individual income tax returns in 2006
when approximately 30 000 taxpayers
adopted it, this service grew to over
1 000 000 returns submitted via eFiling
in 2007 and we are on track to issue
over 1 500 000 returns issued in respect
of 2008. Equally encouraging was the
adoption of eFiling and the free SARS
software known as e@syFile by employers
to submit their EMP501 declarations
and employee tax certificates.
Over 90% of these were submitted
electronically to SARS this year.
Anticipated problems in respect of current
tax year (2008): There are no significant
problems anticipated during Tax Season
2008. Two challenges have presented themselves
to date in the campaign — both
related to the submission of employee tax
certificate information by employers to be
used to pre-populate the income tax returns
of employees. Pre-populating employees’
income tax returns requires three key things:
● Accurate information about the tax and
deductions of employees.
● Up-to-date personal information on certificates
so we can match them to
taxpayers.
● The provision of this information before
taxpayers request their returns.