SARS Tax Season 2026: What You Need to Know Before You File
- Jun 8
- 5 min read
By HM Accounting & Business Solutions
Tax season is nearly upon us again, and if past years are anything to go by, plenty of people will leave it until the week of the deadline. We'd gently suggest not doing that this year.
SARS keeps getting better at pulling in data from employers, banks, medical aids and retirement funds, which makes filing quicker for most people but also means errors and omissions are far easier to spot. The taxpayers who run into trouble are usually the ones who accept whatever SARS puts in front of them without checking, forget about a bit of side income, or only discover their banking details are out of date when their refund doesn't arrive. Almost all of it is avoidable with a little preparation.
Here's what matters for 2026.
The year you're actually filing for
Worth clearing up first, because it trips people up every year: the 2026 tax season is about the income you earned between 1 March 2025 and 28 February 2026. The brackets and rebates that apply are the 2025/26 ones. The changes announced in the February 2026 Budget are next year's problem, not this return's.
The dates
SARS has confirmed the filing windows:
Who | When |
Auto-assessments issued | 1 – 12 July 2026 |
Non-provisional taxpayers | 13 July – 23 October 2026 |
Provisional taxpayers and trusts | 13 July 2026 – 22 January 2027 |
If you're auto-assessed, the clock that matters is the 40 business days you get from the date of the notice to file a correction if you need one.
Auto-assessments, and why you shouldn't just nod them through
Auto-assessment has grown a lot in recent years. SARS takes the information it already holds from your employer, medical aid, bank, retirement fund and a few other sources, does the sums, and sends you an SMS or email between 1 and 12 July telling you whether you're owed a refund or owe them money.
If you agree with it, you don't even need to formally accept it anymore; any refund simply gets paid into your registered account. That convenience is genuine, but the responsibility for the numbers still sits with you.
SARS only knows what third parties have reported, so anything that lowers your tax and isn't already on their radar is on you to add: retirement annuity contributions, out-of-pocket medical expenses, a travel logbook, rental income and expenses, foreign income, and so on. If the assessment is missing something or has it wrong, you file an updated ITR12 within those 40 business days. Let the window close and SARS's version becomes final, mistakes and all.
What this return is taxed on
South Africa runs a progressive system with seven brackets for 2025/26:
Taxable income | Rate |
R1 – R237 100 | 18% |
R237 101 – R370 500 | 26% |
R370 501 – R512 800 | 31% |
R512 801 – R673 000 | 36% |
R673 001 – R857 900 | 39% |
R857 901 – R1 817 000 | 41% |
Above R1 817 000 | 45% |
Against the tax that table produces, you deduct your rebates: R17 235 for everyone, a further R9 444 if you're 65 to 74, and another R3 145 from 75 onwards. Those rebates are what set the tax-free thresholds, R95 750 under 65, R148 217 for 65 to 74, and R165 689 for 75 and over. Below those amounts you pay no income tax.
One thing worth flagging is that these brackets weren't adjusted for inflation in 2025/26. In practice that's a quiet tax increase, since a normal salary rise can push more of your income into a higher band without your real earnings actually growing.
What's different this year
SARS has made a handful of practical changes worth knowing about. More of your return arrives pre-populated, so there's less to capture by hand, though you should still check every figure against your own certificates rather than trusting the form.
Some sections have been reworded to cut out repetitive and confusing questions, and there's better guidance for declaring residency, which matters if you've worked abroad or have foreign income.
Choosing your medical aid is now a drop-down rather than a free-text field, which removes a common source of errors.
The bigger shift is in how SARS communicates. You can now receive your assessment notice (ITA34) and statement of account over WhatsApp, and even upload supporting documents that way, which helps if email and eFiling aren't part of your routine.
The ITR12 itself has been given a cleaner layout with quicker links to your notices and clearer warnings when a return is overdue. There's also a new declaration questionnaire designed to catch problems earlier, with the upside that fewer returns should get pulled aside for verification.
What to have ready
Filing goes a lot faster if you've gathered the paperwork before the season opens. For most people that means your IRP5, medical aid and retirement annuity certificates, and your IT3(b) investment certificates. Add to that anything that reflects income SARS won't already know about or deductions you intend to claim: rental and business records, a travel logbook, Section 18A donation certificates, foreign income documentation, and tax-free investment statements.
While you're at it, log into eFiling and make sure your contact and banking details are current. Out-of-date banking information is one of the most common reasons a refund gets stuck.
When it's worth getting help
A simple return with one IRP5 and a medical aid is something most people can handle on their own. It's the more tangled situations where professional help tends to pay for itself, if you run a business or are self-employed, earn commission, have rental property, draw foreign income, juggle several income streams, file as a provisional taxpayer, or you've been hit with an audit or verification notice. In those cases the goal isn't just staying compliant; it's making sure you're not leaving legitimate deductions on the table.
A word on missing the deadline
There's really no reason to be late, because it's expensive. SARS charges an administrative penalty of R250 a month for each return you haven't filed, climbing to a ceiling of R16 000 per return, and interest runs on any tax you owe. None of this depends on how much you earned, so even a small or nil obligation is worth dealing with rather than ignoring.
In short
Get your documents together, check anything SARS sends you instead of accepting it blind, claim what you're genuinely entitled to, and file before 23 October. An hour or two of admin now is a far better deal than penalties and a scramble in October.
Need a hand with Tax Season 2026?
HM Accounting & Business Solutions works with individuals, entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners across South Africa and abroad on personal income tax returns, provisional tax, tax planning, SARS queries and audits, foreign income matters, and compliance reviews.
📞 067 121 3652
This article is general information, not tax advice. For guidance on your own situation, get in touch with us or check sars.gov.za.
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