eFiling in full swing

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 24 Jan 2008

The SA Revenue Service (SARS) is pleased with the public response to its R140 million online eFiling income tax return system.

"It is encouraging for SARS that more than 400 000 returns were submitted via the electronic filing facility," says spokesman Adrian Lackay.

"This figure is more than 10 times higher than the number of eFiling users during the previous year of assessment and indicates growing public confidence in the electronic system. In total, more than 1.1 million taxpayers have registered as eFiling users," he adds.

Lackay warns taxpayers who have not yet filed their 2006/7 returns they have seven more days to do so. "SARS will not allow further extensions and outstanding tax returns must be submitted by 31 January 2008 to avoid penalties."

He adds that the www.sarsefiling.co.za site is getting busier - as is the contact centre. Lackay earlier this month urged eFilers to panic early to avoid a last minute rush. About 60 000 taxpayers heeded that call and filed their returns between 8 and 23 January.

Meanwhile, SARS has already processed the bulk of the record three million returns submitted so far and has issued a fortune in tax returns. Lackay says 2.1 million returns have been processed to some extent, while more than 1.5 million have been "assessed and where applicable, refunds were issued".

To date, 632 000 taxpayers have had refunds adding up to R2.3 billion. But more than a 100 000 of them will not receive it because of incorrect bank account details. Lackay says these people need to visit their nearest SARS office to correct these and have their identities verified so that the funds can be transferred.

A further 880 000 returns will be assessed and finalised before the end of March. But some taxpayers are being asked to resubmit or clarify their returns. "Since the beginning of this month, SARS sent back new, blank income tax returns to some 440 000 taxpayers whose manual returns could not be processed further. About half of this number has been completed, returned to SARS and are being processed."

SARS last year invested R140 million in tax-filing automation technology and simplified the process in order to move away from paper. In May, SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan said the floors at many tax offices were literally creaking under the weight of archived tax returns.

He said the new system would provide taxpayers a "secure, easy and friendly mechanism to work through".