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Johannesburg - The South African Revenue Service (Sars) is planning to release an upgraded version of its E@syFile software to employers shortly, probably as early as this weekend.
This update to version 4.0.2, first released at the end of August, contains a couple of functionality tweaks. It also introduces the ability to manage "agency" appointments in terms of section 99 of the Income Tax Act.
According to the Act, Sars has the power to appoint organisations that hold funds on taxpayer’s behalf like banks (deposits) and employers (salaries) as collection agents.
If these taxpayers have not met their tax obligations, the agents are compelled to transfer the outstanding money to Sars.
Mark Kingon, group executive at Sars, says that it is continually trying to improve the functionality of the software to streamline the PAYE tax reconciliation process.
“Probably the biggest advantage of the process is the pre-population of individual tax returns,” he says. “Not to mention the decreased turnover time and added security from having the data encrypted.”
More submissions
One of the major changes introduced to the PAYE process this year is that employers will have to submit employee data twice a year. Starting in September and October, employers will have to submit their interim electronic tax certificates, together with the reconciliation declaration for the period 1 March to 31 August, 2010.
The process will be repeated for the second part of the financial year in April and May next year. Tax certificates, however, should not be issued to employers as they are only for Sars’ administrative purposes.
Another change introduced this year is the mandatory supply of certain demographic information on employees, like an ID or passport number, country of origin if it is the latter, as well as contact details.
Kingon adds that employers who choose not to go the electronic route still have the option of going into any Sars branch and complete and submit the manual version although this is not recommended.
He is, however, concerned over the slow response to this year’s first interim reconciliation process and calls on employers to get to it as soon possible.
“The requirement that all submitted tax certificates should contain individual income tax reference numbers has been relaxed,” he says.
“We thought such a requirement will ensure that these individuals will enable us to register for income tax purposes, but the variation in the spelling of names and the absence of ID numbers just complicated the process and we cannot afford to register duplicates and make mistakes in this regard."
What will happen now is that Sars will firstly verify all information, and return the registration information in due course to the individual taxpayers and via e@syFile to employers.
The Act prescribes that there is a liability for registration by individual salary earners only in those instances where they earn over R60 000 per annum from employment. (Persons earning other forms of income are required to register even if the amount is less than R60 000). Although this means that Sars can’t force anyone to register themselves, it does not stop the taxman from doing it himself.
It’s important to note that registering as a taxpayer does not mean that the taxpayer has to submit an income tax return.
If an employee earns under R120 000 for a full year from one employer (total salary income before tax) and has no car allowance, additional income or deductions that he/she wants to claim for, then the employee does not need to submit a tax return.
“Bringing more than five million individuals who fall under the threshold or have failed to register within the tax net will enable us to manage our processes much better,” says Kingon.
- Fin24.com
This update to version 4.0.2, first released at the end of August, contains a couple of functionality tweaks. It also introduces the ability to manage "agency" appointments in terms of section 99 of the Income Tax Act.
According to the Act, Sars has the power to appoint organisations that hold funds on taxpayer’s behalf like banks (deposits) and employers (salaries) as collection agents.
If these taxpayers have not met their tax obligations, the agents are compelled to transfer the outstanding money to Sars.
Mark Kingon, group executive at Sars, says that it is continually trying to improve the functionality of the software to streamline the PAYE tax reconciliation process.
“Probably the biggest advantage of the process is the pre-population of individual tax returns,” he says. “Not to mention the decreased turnover time and added security from having the data encrypted.”
More submissions
One of the major changes introduced to the PAYE process this year is that employers will have to submit employee data twice a year. Starting in September and October, employers will have to submit their interim electronic tax certificates, together with the reconciliation declaration for the period 1 March to 31 August, 2010.
The process will be repeated for the second part of the financial year in April and May next year. Tax certificates, however, should not be issued to employers as they are only for Sars’ administrative purposes.
Another change introduced this year is the mandatory supply of certain demographic information on employees, like an ID or passport number, country of origin if it is the latter, as well as contact details.
Kingon adds that employers who choose not to go the electronic route still have the option of going into any Sars branch and complete and submit the manual version although this is not recommended.
He is, however, concerned over the slow response to this year’s first interim reconciliation process and calls on employers to get to it as soon possible.
“The requirement that all submitted tax certificates should contain individual income tax reference numbers has been relaxed,” he says.
“We thought such a requirement will ensure that these individuals will enable us to register for income tax purposes, but the variation in the spelling of names and the absence of ID numbers just complicated the process and we cannot afford to register duplicates and make mistakes in this regard."
What will happen now is that Sars will firstly verify all information, and return the registration information in due course to the individual taxpayers and via e@syFile to employers.
The Act prescribes that there is a liability for registration by individual salary earners only in those instances where they earn over R60 000 per annum from employment. (Persons earning other forms of income are required to register even if the amount is less than R60 000). Although this means that Sars can’t force anyone to register themselves, it does not stop the taxman from doing it himself.
It’s important to note that registering as a taxpayer does not mean that the taxpayer has to submit an income tax return.
If an employee earns under R120 000 for a full year from one employer (total salary income before tax) and has no car allowance, additional income or deductions that he/she wants to claim for, then the employee does not need to submit a tax return.
“Bringing more than five million individuals who fall under the threshold or have failed to register within the tax net will enable us to manage our processes much better,” says Kingon.
- Fin24.com
