Important SARS auto assessment notice for taxpayers in South Africa

South Africans who disagree with their SARS auto assessment don’t need to wait until 21 July to file a corrected return—they can and should do so immediately.

While the tax window for manual filing opens on 21 July, auto-assessed taxpayers who wait until then may find that it’s too late to make a change.

In previous years, some auto-assessed taxpayers who did not agree with their assessment waited until the manual filing season to open before making corrections.

However, they found that their tax affairs had already been settled and that SARS had paid out a tax refund.

With auto-assessments now rolling out, SARS has reiterated that taxpayers have two options when receiving notice of the assessment:

If they agree with the statement, they do not have to do anything and a refund, if due, will be paid to the linked account within 72 hours.

In many cases, the payments are made within a day, meaning taxpayers have a short window to act if they do not agree.

By not taking any action, the revenue service considers that the auto assessment is correct and proceeds to finalise it.

If taxpayers disagree with the assessment, they have to take action.

“You can file your Income Tax return through eFiling or the MobiApp. There’s no need to wait until 21 July 2025, you can do it immediately,” SARS said.

SARS auto assessments started rolling out on July 7 and will continue to be handled in batches through July 20.

From 21 July, the tax season will open for taxpayers who have to manually file their returns for the year. Tax returns have to be finalised before or on 20 October 2025.

Tax season 2025 dates

While SARS will automatically pay a tax refund in short order, taxpayers will also be given a due date that must be adhered to if they owe SARS money. Again, taxpayers should take immediate action.

SARS noted that if a tax refund or debt is less than R100, it will be rolled over to the next tax year.

This means that such a refund or debt is not payable immediately but remains as a balance on your account until it exceeds R100 and becomes payable.

It added that it is up to taxpayers to ensure that their auto assessments are complete and include all the relevant information.

For example, if you received rental or other income, or have deductions in addition to what the service has reflected in your assessment, you must file a tax return on or before 20 October.

“Your updated tax return must have the new information in addition to what SARS has pre-populated on your tax return,” it said.

“Keep any supporting documents for changes you want us to make to your auto-assessment, because SARS may ask for it.”

SARS pointed to two other important pieces of information regarding provisional taxpayers and anyone who has made withdrawals from their two-pot retirement savings.

While the revenue service is trialling auto assessments for provisional taxpayers, this is an invite-only test that is available to selected taxpayers.

Some provisional taxpayers will be invited to take part in auto assessments in 2025. It is not open to all provisional taxpayers and cannot be applied for.

Selected taxpayers can access the “Provisional Taxpayer Auto Assessment Request” service, but only if they received corresponding notifications from SARS to request inclusion in the auto assessment population for the 2025 year of assessment.

For two-pot withdrawals, SARS said that taxpayers who are not required to file a tax return but made a savings withdrawal benefit from a retirement fund will be included in the Auto Assessment population.