The tax man (or tax person, this is 2018) has been taking your money, and now it’s time to file those returns on the off chance that you’re due a little back.

It would hurt less if we didn’t know that SARS has been completely gutted, and Tom Moyane cost us all a cool R142 billion, but that’s where we’re currently at.

Anyway, it’s one of these necessary evils, so let’s get the basics down when it comes to Tax Season 2018.

Sunday was the first day where individuals could make use of eFiling, and SARS branches around the country began accepting submissions yesterday.

As we have previously mentioned, the deadlines for submission have been brought forward, so make note of these dates:

Hang on, what’s provisional and what’s non-provisional? IOL with that distinction:

…a provisional taxpayer is any person that receives income (or to whom income accrues) other than a salary. Most salary earners are non-provisional taxpayers, because they do not have another source of income.

…if you receive an ‘exempt income’ (you get interest of less than R23,800 if you are under 65 or receive interest of less than R34,500 if you are 65 and older or, if  have income in a tax free savings account), you are still not a provisional taxpayer.

If you ain’t got no side hustle going on, and you’re just working for the man, you’re non-provisional.

Before you start getting all of your ducks in a row, you DO NOT have to submit a tax return if…

• If you earn an income or salary before tax for the year March 2017 to February 2018 was not more than R350 000.
• You received this income, March 2017 to February 2018), from one employer.
• You do not get a car allowance, company car/travel allowance or other income such as a rental income.
• You do not claim tax deductions or rebates, such as medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions other than pension contributions made by your employer, and travel.

That all seems fair enough, but it’s a little different for the likes of freelancers, multiple-income individuals and businesses.

You know what to do – you reach out to the professionals, Galbraith | Rushby, and let them worry about all the head-scratching numbers that need to be crunched.

Oh, and that other stuff, too:

• Auditing
• Tax Advisory and Compliance
• Accounting and Bookkeeping
• Secretarial
• Payroll

Sorted.

May SARS bestow a refund upon us all.

[source:iol]