Sars said they have extended their operating hours for Saturday.

The deadline applies to non-provisional taxpayers, as well as those provisional taxpayers who opt to file at a branch.  Provisional taxpayers using eFiling have until 31 January 2019 to file.

“Sars will be assisting taxpayers with their personal tax returns this Saturday between 8am and 1pm.  This will be done through our contact centre, Help-You-eFile and all branches across the country,” Sars said.

“eFiling is available 24 hours, seven days a week. Taxpayers are encouraged to go online to avoid the queues. Self-Help kiosks are available at selected branches for eFiling.”

Sars said eFiling has on average handled 25,000 submissions a day and as volumes increase towards the deadline, can handle up to 150,000 submissions a day. At one point this week, 20,000 taxpayers logged on to our system at exactly the same time to transact.

"Help-You-eFile is how Sars brings a branch tax consultant to taxpayers without them needing to leave their home or place of work. It is an online function on eFiling that connects the taxpayer to a Sars tax agent who will help the taxpayer complete their tax return. Help-You-eFile is available during business hours," Sars said.

The revenue services said that tax returns were assessed on the same day they were submitted. Sars has made it easy for taxpayers by prepopulating tax returns with information received from third party data. This leaves less fields for the taxpayer to complete and requires that the taxpayer merely verifies the information contained on their tax return.

"From November 1, administrative penalties ranging from R200 to R15,000 will be applied to late filing of tax returns. This is according to the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011. Eighteen taxpayers have been prosecuted and publicly named this year for not filing a tax return," Sars said.

Sars alerted taxpayers to scams where refunds were promised or where the taxpayer was informed of debt they owed to Sars. 

African News Agency (ANA)