2023 Parallelogram season opens 8pm, Friday 7 July 2023!

Ready-Steady-Go! Go! Go!

“I am glad I learned about Parallelograms in High School Math instead of how to do my taxes. It comes in so handy during Parallelogram season.” – said nobody ever. 

A special kind of polygon is the Parallelogram, for sure. The properties of parallelograms are interesting:

Opposite sides are congruent.

• Opposite angles are congruent.
• Consecutive angles are supplementary.
• If one angle is right, then all angles are right.
• The diagonals of a parallelogram bisect each other.
• Each diagonal of a parallelogram separates it into two congruent triangles. 

See, it’s easy! Apply this to your tax filing, and you’re good.

Here is what you need to know for your polygon to be a true parallelogram this filing season:

2023 Income Tax Return Filing Dates:

• 7 July 2023 at 20:00 to 23 October 2023 for Individual Taxpayers who do not meet the criteria of being classified as a Provisional Taxpayer
• 7 July 2023 at 20:00 to 24 January 2024 for Individual Taxpayers who do in fact meet the criteria of Provisional Taxpayer

What to expect for the 2023 Parallelogram Season:

• Auto Assessments:
  
  Between 1 July 2023 and 7 July 2023, certain taxpayers will be notified by SARS that they have been Auto Assessed. 
  With the 2022 filing season, those in the auto-assessment population were granted 40 business days from the issue date to revise their return. This year, the 40 business days were extended to coincide with the normal filing due date.
  
  
  • If you agree with the Auto Assessment SARS raised, you do not have to do anything, and SARS will refund you within 72 hours, providing your bank details are correct and valid. If you owe SARS, be aware to do the payment before the due date shown on the Notice of Assessment. 
    Please keep in mind that the auto assessment may not have all your deductions so the recommendation would be to not merely accept the auto assessment. It is a advisable to make sure you are getting the most of out of your refund. You surely deserve it! 
    
    SARS will hold you liable for a false declaration should your assessment not be correct. 
    So, merely accepting the auto assessment without wearing your parallelogram glasses is very dangerous! Be careful!
    
    
  • If you are not in agreement with the auto assessment issued, you must indicate this to SARS, and you will be allowed until 23 October 2023 to make such corrections.
    
    
• Taxpayers who are not auto assessed by SARS:
  
  Filing season for non provisional taxpayers who was not auto assessed by SARS, commences on 7 July 2023 at 8pm. 
  
  Yes. 8 pm on a Friday night. 
  
  It is not advisable to rush into filing season over-eagerly, SARS is ready for this filing season with their algorithm “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed, to enforce the provisions of the Tax Administration Act.
  
  
• Payment Due Dates for non-provisional e-Filers were adjusted:
  
  • Taxpayers who are NOT in the auto-assessed population, payment due date will be 30 days after the notice of assessment has been issued,
  • For taxpayers who are auto-assessed, payment due date will be 30 days post Filing Season 2023 closing date.
    
    
• Statement of Assets and Liabilities
  Provisional Taxpayers with business interests are required to declare their assets and liabilities (based on cost) in their tax return. Taxpayers with assets above R 50 million, are required to declare specified assets at market values on their 2023 returns.
  
  
• Foreign Income Disclosure
  SARS introduced a Foreign Income container for taxpayers who must declare worldwide foreign income, and new fields with appropriate source codes will apply:
  • Income received from foreign employment services not reflected on a SA IRP5 certificate, subject to tax outside SA and section 10(1)(o)(ii) exemption does not apply,
  • Income received from foreign employment services not reflected on a SA IRP5 certificate, subject to tax outside SA and section 10(1)(o)(i) exemption applies,
  • Income received from foreign employment services not reflected on a SA IRP5 certificate, subject to tax outside SA and section 10(1)(o)(i) exemption does not apply.
    
    
• Spouses Married in Community of Property:
  Taxpayers married in community of property are taxed on 50% of interest, dividends, rental income, and capital gains transactions. For the 2023 Filing Season, SARS will confirm this status, with the Department of Home Affairs. Where spouses are successfully matched, SARS will replicate the information on both spouses’ returns.
  
  
• Documents to have on hand for filing season:
  • IRP5 certificates from your employer with the income and deductions for the year,
  • Medical Aid Certificates,
  • Retirement Annuity Fund Contribution Certificates,
  • IT3b’s & IT3c’s in terms of investment income. Check with your broker for these,
  • Section 18A donation certificates from Public Benefit Organisations,
  • Any other income and deductions, like rental income, cryptocurrency, business income and expenses.
  • Travel logbook in the correct SARS format. 
    
    Parallelogram “PERK ALERT” for our clients: We have a free Logbook App for the use of our clients, which is integrated with your file with us, and you can record as you drive from the convenience of your smartphone – enquire here
    
    
    

Trusts:

Trusts are included in the definition of a “person” in terms of the Income Tax Act, and the representative taxpayer, the trustee/(s) as a great responsibility here. 

All trusts are required to submit a trust return. It is imperative that all trustees ensure compliance. 

SARS has introduced major change to trust returns.

• Mandatory supporting documents must accompany the return, which includes amongst others the Trust Instrument, Annual Financial Statements, Resolutions and Minutes of Trustee Meetings. These requirements will vary according to the trust type.
• Additional data fields to determine if any local or foreign amounts were vested in the trust as a beneficiary of another trust.
• A Beneficial Ownership Declaration page has been added to record beneficial owners and those who may gain financially from the proceeds of a trust.

Beneficiaries and donors of a Trust must declare their income that was vested in a beneficiary by the trust on their tax returns.

Corporate Income Tax Returns:

2023 Filing Requirements

Every Company (or other juristic person) which is a resident that:

• Derived gross income in excess of R 1 000,
• Held assets with a cost of more than R 1 000 or had liabilities of more than R 1 000,
• Derived any capital gain or loss of more than R 1 000,
• Had taxable income, taxable turnover, or an assessed loss or an assessed capital loss,

must submit a Corporate Income Tax Return.

SARS also introduced changes to corporate tax returns, amongs others:

• An update to the core systems to accommodate assessed loss calculations (in terms of Section 20 of the Act),
• When claiming donations, the Public Benefit Organisation Numbers (PBOs) will be validated against the SARS’s register for validity,
• Share Registers to enable capturing of the classes of shares, and the details of the shareholders of shares per class of share,
• The taxable distributions from trusts were enhanced to declare details of each distribution.

“I am glad I learned about Parallelograms in High School Math instead of how to do my taxes. It comes in so handy during Parallelogram season.” – said nobody ever.

Right Now. Is the time to sign up with Exponential Brilliance to for our expert service to ensure your polygon’s properties matches that of a true parallelogram.

Ready-Steady-Go! Go! Go!

Article written by: Amanda Roothman, Exponential Brilliance, Registered Tax Practitioner SA

Recourses: Various SARS publications, Government Gazette Notices, Various information gathered from attending extensive tax training courses