Sars targets employers

Fri, 16 May 2008

The SA Revenue Service (Sars) on Thursday announced details for 2008 tax season that for the first time puts specific emphasis on the central role of employers in the personal income tax system.

For 2008, changes would be introduced that would impact on the legal obligation of employers who administer payroll taxes such as PAYE, UIF, SITE and SDL.

"These changes will affect the way in which employers submit their annual PAYE declarations to Sars which must reflect deductions made from the salary of employees and whether these have been paid to Sars on behalf of employees," Sars said.

For 2008, Sars would introduce to the PAYE system a simplified reconciliation process based on the policy of declaration and acceptance of such a declaration by Sars.

From this year employers must take responsibility of ensuring reconciliation and providing proof of reconciliation to Sars.

Sars would assist employers by providing a custom-built software programme free of charge.

Sars advised employers from now until 30 June 2008 to start preparing for the changes.

Companies then had a 60-day window period – 1 July 2008 to 29 August 2008 - to submit employer PAYE deductions to Sars.

For individuals the filing period opens on 1 September 2008.

The deadline for the manual submission of returns is 21 November 2008 and the deadline for electronic submission of returns is 23 January 2009.

From 2008 Sars will provide individual tax returns in multiple official languages on demand.