Third Party Disclosures to SARS

Posted on

We came across this article in the June edition of the Logista newsletter.

The 2011 Tax Administration Act indicated that SARS would be looking to third parties, such as banks, medical aids etc, for information to verify your tax submissions. Now they have gazetted what they actually require from these third parties.

These third parties have to make six-monthly submissions to SARS in electronic format (smaller returns of twenty records or less may be submitted manually at a SARS office) which will enable SARS to build data per taxpayer, and that data will be used to check the information you have disclosed in your tax return and to pre-populate your tax returns.

This third party information includes, among other things, rental income, disposal and buying of shares, interest and dividend income, purchase of retirement funding, medical aid contributions and insurance pay outs on death.

It will be even more important that we organise the information needed for our tax returns as SARS will know much of it anyway and the penalties for understatement are severe.

© DotNews, 2005-2013. This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your financial adviser for specific and detailed advice.