Over 191,000 Tax Returns Filed as SARS Opens 2024 Tax Season

At least 191,000 South Africans have filed their tax returns following the opening of the filing season for provisional and non-provisional taxpayers on Monday, 15 July. This update was provided by South African Revenue Services (SARS) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter during a media briefing on Tax Season 2024 on Tuesday.

Of the returns filed, approximately 183,000 were submitted via SARS' online e-filing and mobile application services, while about 7,700 were filed through Taxpayer Service Centres. Kieswetter outlined that SARS anticipates issuing around eight million assessments for the 2024 tax year by approximately 20 January, in addition to handling returns from previous years.

Notably, five million taxpayers have already been auto-assessed by the revenue service, with auto-assessments for an expanded pool of taxpayers conducted from 1-14 July 2024. During the first two weeks of July, SARS engaged in over 16 million digital exchanges with taxpayers, averaging one million users per day and peaking at 1.9 million interactions when the tax season opened on Monday.

"In total, we serviced over three million transactions across all our channels and over a million views on our website in one day. One hundred percent of taxpayers, who would have submitted their returns [on Monday], have already been assessed, 70% of those were assessed within our own five-second aspiration," Kieswetter stated.

He added that SARS received 57,000 calls but could only service about 15,000 due to the length of calls and current capacity limitations. Since the issuance of auto-assessments on 1 July, 5.5 million taxpayers have been assessed, resulting in potential refunds of R17 billion. Of this, R10 billion has already been paid out, with a further R4 billion expected to be disbursed within the next 72 hours unless specific reasons for withholding apply.

Refunds may be withheld for several reasons, including outstanding returns from prior years, outdated banking details, detected inaccuracies, or the need for further verification. Kieswetter encouraged taxpayers to complete outstanding checks, update their details, and resolve any issues to ensure a smooth refund process.

"We encourage taxpayers to complete these outstanding checks before enquiring about their refunds and to make sure that their details and all outstanding matters are resolved and updated. Then, if you are due a refund, you should have no challenge," he said.