For a lot of folks, doing tax returns is up there with organising your sock drawer.

You do it because you have to, but at the last minute, and usually, because it’s a useful way to procrastinate when something worse needs doing.

The thing about tax returns is – and I cannot stress this enough – once you’re done, SARS will often give you money. If someone had told me this sooner, I wouldn’t have put it off for so long.

The trick to getting your tax returns in on time is to prepare. Tax season opens for individual tax practitioners on July 1, 2019. That’s less than a month away.

To help you get ahead of the game, here’s what you need to know in three simple categories, according to SARS:

Are you even required to submit a tax return?

First things first – if you aren’t sure whether or not you need to submit a tax return, and you have your ID and Tax Number, you can call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277; press 3 (for a tax-related enquiry), and then select 1 to find out whether you are required to submit an Income Tax Return (ITR12).

Registering for eFiling:

You must be a registered taxpayer with a tax reference number to register for eFiling.

Go to SARS eFiling > click Register > follow the seven easy steps.

Remember, SARS may need 48 hours to verify and approve your registration so that you can eFile.

If you need to submit documents for your registration, you have 21 business days to do so. These documents will need to be submitted to SARS

Supporting Documents

The following is a checklist of all the documents you’ll need to have handy when compiling your tax return. Get these together before tax season starts, and keep them on hand when eFiling.

• Your IRP5/IT3(a) certificate(s) which you will receive from your employer
• Medical certificates, as well as documents required for amounts, claimed in addition to those covered by your medical aid.
• Pension and retirement annuity certificates
• Your banking details
• Travel logbook (if you receive a travel allowance)
• Tax certificates that you received in respect of investment income (IT3(b))
• Completed confirmation of a diagnosis of disability (ITR-DD), where applicable
• Information relating to capital gain transactions, if applicable
• The approved Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) Agreement between yourself and SARS for years prior to 17 February 2010, where applicable
• Financial statements, e.g. business income, where applicable
• Any other documentation relating to income you received or deductions you want to claim.

For a more detailed outline of what to do, SARS wants to help you eFile here.

If you’re smart, or if you’re running a business and the idea of doing your own taxes terrifies you, you’ll stop freaking out hand your tax concerns over to an expert.

Galbraith | Rushby offer professional tax compliance and advisory services to individuals and businesses, and Seth’s been letting them crunch the numbers for years now.

Let them handle the intricacies of submitting a tax return, while you sit back and plan what you’re going to to do with your tax return.

[source:sars]