The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has called on employers to comply with their legal obligations regarding the annual Employers Filing Season by the deadline of 31 May to avoid penalties, interest and/or criminal charges.

As required by law, employers are required to submit Employer Annual Reconciliation Declarations (EMP501), outstanding monthly declarations (EMP201) and previous years’ annual reconciliations (EMP501) to the revenue collector.

“Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) payments must be up to date, and the IRP5/IT3(a) data provided to SARS must be verified and accurate.

“The correct data is important so that SARS may pre-populate income tax returns and auto-assess the identified taxpayers correctly. The correct data is also important, where taxpayers have to file a return, to enable them to do so with the correct information during the filing season for individuals, which starts on 1 July,” said SARS.

The revenue service requested employees to check if their details on the IRP5/IT3(a) are correct.

Third party data suppliers such as medical aid schemes and banks are also required to submit verified and accurate information to SARS and to their clients.

SARS said these are important requirements so that it can offer a streamlined and seamless service to taxpayers, in line with its objective to make it easy for taxpayers to comply with their obligations.

“Employers, tax practitioners and payroll administrators need to download the latest version of Employers e@syFile. 

“This online channel allows employers to submit their EMP501 electronically. SARS also encourages small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to use this platform and move from manual to automated payroll systems.”

First-time job seekers can register for personal income tax via eFiling.

“It takes less than 24 hours to receive an SMS with a new tax reference number when applying via eFiling,” said the revenue collector. 

Source: South African Government News Agency