Auto Assessments: Be Attentive. Be Aware.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein.

The somewhat dramatic 2022 Tax Filing Season is in full swing, and SARS has auto assessed over three million taxpayers within the first two weeks of July. 

The information on these auto assessments were gathered by SARS from third parties such as employers, banks, medical aid administrators, pension fund administrators etc, using artificial intelligence and system algorithms.

How arcadian, idyllic: Once you have received an auto assessment from SARS, you don't have to lift a finger to file your taxes. 

Nothing. 

SARS has done it all for you. If you do "nothing", it means you agree with your assessment.

SARS even removed the option to accept this auto assessment: No button. No checkbox. 

All you have to do is:

Nothing. 

To top it all off, a large percentage of auto assessed individuals were plated and served with a refund from SARS, right into their bank accounts, without even lifting a finger! 

And you have done absolutely: 

Nothing. 

Sounds great, doesn't it?

But.... Be Alert. Allude your attention to possible mysterious elements that may be hidden in the details. 

SARS continuously warns that non-compliance and understatements will be dealt with harshly and will be costly. They specifically warned about understatement of income or claiming of impermissible expenses. It will cost you dearly, they warn. 

Heading these warnings and considering that the onus is resting 100% on your shoulders, my question to you is this: Did SARS take the following into account, when they issued your auto assessment: 

• Your travel allowance claim, as they don't have your logbook information yet?
• Your medical expenses that you have not recovered from your medical aid?
• Your expenses to be claimed against your commission? 
• Your possible home office expenses?
• Your rental loss or profit? 
• Your capital gains or losses?
• Your crypto trading?

... to mention but a few.

This means that SARS may have auto assessed you, without giving you the opportunity to claim your legitimate tax-deductible expenses. 

The Tax Administration Act is persistent. This Act has proven to be dangerous territory, should you not adhere to each and every section thereof.

SARS proudly reported in a recent stakeholder meeting that we have attended, that a whopping 2.6 million returns were "received" thus far, compared to the 600 000 at the same time, last year. All thanks to the algorithmic state of the art artificial intelligent system.

However, dramatic situations were witnessed thus far, pertaining to the auto assessments issued incorrectly by SARS: duplicated IRP5 certificates, omitted IRP5 certificates, refunds paid out to individuals, where the PAYE was not even collected by SARS, no legitimate tax deductions were recorded by SARS, amongst others. 

Once again, the onus is on you, the taxpayer. So before doing absolutely...

Nothing...

Remember... Nothing is easy, but who wants nothing? Pay relentless attention to the details, for your own good, and contact us if in doubt.

In reality: Nothing will work unless you do.