South African taxpayers were met with frustration on the first day of the 2025 tax season after technical problems crippled the online platforms used for filing returns.
SARS tax filing season 2025 info pack: Here are the latest changes
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) apologised on Monday, 7 July, after its eFiling and MobiApp platforms suffered major crashes, leaving individuals and tax practitioners unable to access or submit essential documentation.
The glitches, which coincided with the first round of auto assessments sent out to qualifying taxpayers, also affected EMP201 submissions—these are monthly employee tax declarations that employers are legally required to submit by the seventh day of every month.
The timing of the system failures sparked backlash from professionals in the tax space, with concerns that penalties may be incurred for non-submission, even though the fault lay with SARS infrastructure.
SARS, in a statement issued on Monday, said:
“Our system is currently experiencing unusually high traffic volumes. We value your experience and appreciate your patience as our dedicated teams work diligently to resolve the issue and restore full service as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Despite the rocky start, SARS has outlined a series of updates for this year’s tax filing season that all taxpayers need to understand clearly.
Filing season officially opened for individuals on Monday, 7 July 2025, with auto assessments running until 20 July 2025.
General individual filing begins on 21 July 2025 and closes on 20 October 2025, while provisional taxpayers have until 19 January 2026.
Among the biggest changes is that SARS has now made auto assessments available to certain provisional taxpayers.
These are individuals who earn income that is not subject to PAYE (Pay-As-You-Earn), like freelancers or investors. Provisional taxpayers selected for auto assessment will be contacted by SARS and given the option to participate.
Another key update involves section 6quat of the Income Tax Act. This rule now allows full use of foreign tax credits for capital gains made in other countries, meaning that if someone paid tax abroad on those gains, they can get credit for that in their local SARS assessment. If those credits are not used in the same tax year, they can be carried over for up to six years.
Employers must now reflect details from sections 11(nA) and 11(nB) on employee tax certificates, which are used to complete the ITR12 return.
This means that deductions or allowances under these sections will appear as new codes on IRP5 forms.
Also, labour brokers who are exempted from tax withholding are now classified as provisional taxpayers, and must meet all related filing duties.
The section 12H tax deduction for learnership agreements has been extended until March 2027. This incentive helps businesses that offer structured training contracts for young or unemployed individuals.
SARS has also introduced a number of technical changes to the ITR12 tax form. These include the introduction of codes for backdated salaries and pensions, and adjustments to how interest earnings are reported in deceased estates.
There are also new source codes for exempt dividends—both local and foreign—making the distinction clearer in the tax system.
Additionally, SARS has refined the ITR12 and IRP6 return process for people who change their tax residency during the year. Depending on a taxpayer’s residency status, they will now receive tailored return forms to ensure correct reporting.
In the case of trusts, SARS will apply a 50% split of trust income where the recipient is married in community of property.
Unused balances for deductions such as medical aid credits or donations that aren’t automatically carried over will now come with a note explaining that SARS is still verifying the information and will amend the return later if needed.
While SARS aims to position itself as a “smart, modern organisation,” the technical disruptions seen on the opening day of filing season raised concerns about whether its systems are robust enough to handle the tax rush.
For now, taxpayers and practitioners are left to wait and hope that these improvements extend beyond paperwork and reflect in system reliability.