By Paul Gering Director: Tax at PKF Durban

The new tax season dates have been formally announced.

We are taking this opportunity to highlight some key dates that may affect you.

New third-party information reporting

PBO’S – New IT3D returns

The IT3D is a new declaration that Public Benefit Organisations that issue a Section 18A must disclose the full details of those Section 18A certificates to SARS as a third-party provider of information. This is the first year that this has been introduced and the deadline to submit the Section 18A certificates under an IT3D was 30 May 2024.

SARS is aware that many public benefit organisations have not as yet made the relevant disclosure and as such, the eFiling of these IT3D returns is still open. This year they will be used as part of the verification process of SARS but within the near future, the public benefit organisation third-party information will pre-populate the tax returns of the donors in a similar manner to the way that your interest from a bank is pre-populated on your tax return.

Public benefit organisations that do not submit the IT3D will be prejudicing the donors who will be subject to a more stringent verification processes due the lack of third-party information.

Trusts – New IT3T Returns

This is a new third-party declaration that Trusts will be required to submit by 30 September 2024 to disclose the distributions made to beneficiaries in respect of the year of assessment ending 29 February 2024. This is also a new third-party return and as such, will not pre-populate the returns of the beneficiaries this year but, once again, in the near future, will be used to pre-populate beneficiary tax returns.

Based on various discussions with SARS, our understanding is that these disclosures may pre-populate certain parts/sections of the Trust tax return and as such, it is important that the IT3T is lodged prior to the rendition of the Trust tax return.

Income tax returns

1. Auto assessments

SARS will start commencing issuing the auto assessments from 1 July 2024 to 14 July 2024.

It is imperative that these auto assessments are checked in that one needs to submit a corrected return within a defined period of time otherwise the ability to object against these auto assessments falls away. SARS has been refining its processes of auto assessments but there are still issues with this process and a taxpayer does need to make sure that their income and deductions are correctly reflected on the auto assessment.

2. Non-Provisional taxpayers

The time period for a non-provisional taxpayer to render their return commencing on 15 July 2024 and ending on 21 October 2024.

SARS have taken a very strong and narrow view on the interpretation of provisional taxpayers and only allow a taxpayer who qualifies as a provisional taxpayer in that particular year to make use of the extended tax filing period. If a taxpayer does not meet the requirements of a provisional taxpayer, then they need to comply with this shortened tax filing period in order to avoid penalties for late submission.

3. Provisional taxpayers

The filing season for provisional taxpayers commences on 15 July 2024 and ends on 20 January 2025.

4. Trust tax returns

There is now a separate filing period for Trust tax returns commencing on 16 September 2024 and ending on 20 January 2025.

Trustees must ensure that the IT3T has been submitted prior to completing the Trust tax return. SARS is making use of the penalty provisions to raise additional revenue. The late submission of a return will result in penalties and fees in order to try to reverse such penalties in the limited circumstances available.

We urge our clients to send through the necessary information to us on a timeous basis to ensure that the returns can be completed and submitted within these time periods.