Warning to auto assessed taxpayers in South Africa
Tax experts have warned taxpayers that it is still their responsibility to correct and regularise their taxes, even if they have accepted or ignored an incomplete or incorrect auto assessment.
Auto assessments started rolling out from 7 July 2025, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) ended its batch processes just before the manual filing season opened on 21 July.
According to SARS, over 5.8 million taxpayers were auto-assessed during the period, with the taxman paying out R10.6 billion in tax returns.
Notably, SARS said that 99.6% of the assessments were unchanged, pointing to the system’s success.
However, professional services platform Procompare flagged a significant number of frustrated taxpayers who ran into trouble with the process.
The group said that the most common issue with the auto assessments flagged by taxpayers is related to incomplete information about medical aid deductions.
Other issues found were missing non-salary income information, duplications and other ommissions like travel allowaces or overlooked retirment-annuity contributions.
With SARS pointing to 99.6% of auto assessments being unchanged and “accepted”, tax experts on the Procompare platform warned that this does not necessarily mean the assessments were correct.
SARS assumes the auto assessment is correct if a taxpayer does not take any action to amend the information it contains.
However, taxpayers often get confused by the SARS filing dates, thinking they can only manually adjust their taxes when the manual filing window opens, or they ignore the process entirely.
Taxpayers need to take immediate action to reject the auto-assessment and begin a manual filing process to stop the automatic payment, which typically happens within three days.
Taxpayers then have until the filing deadline (20 October 2025 for non-provisional taxpayers) to complete their corrected return.
But even if the auto-assessment is accepted or ignored, and it contains errors, taxpayers are still expected to correct this.
It isn’t over
With the window for auto assessments now closed, taxpayers who went through the process shouldn’t think they are in the clear.
“Many taxpayers mistakenly think that if SARS auto-assessed them and even paid out a refund, nothing more is required,” the tax experts said.
“Be careful: if you have additional income or deductions, you still need to file a return to correct the record.”
An auto-refund isn’t final if the actual tax calculation should be different – don’t assume “SARS paid me, so it must be right,” they said.
“Failing to correct an inaccurate tax assessment can have serious consequences. SARS expects you to report all your income and claim only legitimate deductions, even if their auto-calculation missed something.”
Ignoring an error might feel convenient now, but it can come back to bite you in the form of penalties, interest, or even criminal charges.
If a taxpayer has unknowingly accepted (or ignored) an incorrect auto-assessment, the assessment becomes final, but there are still options to fix it.
This requires extra steps, however.
First, taxpayers will have to issue a request for an extension or correction to SARS. The tax services have mechanisms to process assessments after they have been finalised.
You can submit a Request for Correction (RFC) on eFiling to amend a return if it was filed with errors. SARS allows taxpayers to apply for an extension up to 3 years from the auto-assessment date, provided there are valid reasons.
If the tax correction isn’t allowed or accepted, or the tax deadline has passed, taxpayers can file a Notice of Objection (or dispute).
This involves filing a Notice of Objection (NOO) to the assessment. This is a more involved legal process and is usually a last resort.
“The tax laws recognise that it’s ultimately the taxpayer’s responsibility to get their return right, even in the era of auto-assessments,” the experts said.
“Correcting an already-final assessment can be tricky, so try to catch errors early. If you’re past the date, consider getting professional tax help.
Tax season 2025 dates
| Income Taxpayer | Open | Close |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-Assessments | ||
| Individual | 21 July 2025 | 20 October 2025 |
| Provisional | 21 July 2025 | 19 January 2026 |
| Trusts | 21 July 2025 | 19 January 2026 |
Fix the problem at the source
Because the auto assessment process pulls in data from third parties, SARS and tax experts on the Procompare platform, urge taxpayers to sort out any issues at the source.
“If you find that a third party provided wrong or incomplete info, ask them to correct it and submit the updated data to SARS,” they said.
“You cannot simply edit pre-populated figures yourself – SARS locks those fields to ensure the data matches official records. Once the third-party data is corrected, refresh your return on eFiling to see the updated figures.”
SARS’ official stance is the same. The data it receives from third parties is the same data that taxpayers receive, so any errors are captured and need to be changed at the source.
The experts also added that it is crucial that filers keep evidence for any new information added to the return.
SARS notifies taxpayers to keep records for at least five years, just in case it asks for verification or initiates an audit.
“For instance, if you add a medical expense deduction or declare extra income, have the receipts, logs or statements ready,” the experts said.
Once a taxpayer has submitted a corrected tax return, SARS will process it and issue a new assessment (ITA34). This will show an updated tax outcome.
“Double-check this notice to ensure it now reflects what you expect. If something still looks off, you may need to follow up or even file a dispute, but in most cases, a properly filed return will resolve the discrepancies,” they said.