Six million South Africans face the convenience of auto-assessment during tax season, but are they risking costly mistakes, asks Sanjith Hannuman.
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Six million taxpayers, one click — and the mistakes nobody is checking for, writes Sanjith Hannuman.
LAST year, I wrote in these pages that what appears to be a shortcut is not always the best route for your wallet. Twelve months later, SARS has proved me both right and wrong - and if you are among the six million South Africans receiving an auto-assessment this season, you deserve to know which is which. So let us walk through the good, the bad, and the ugly of letting SARS do your homework.
Let me start with a number that should impress even the sceptics. Within the first two weeks of this tax season, SARS auto-assessed 1,9 million taxpayers and paid out roughly R8 billion in refunds - most landing in bank accounts within 72 hours. No queues. No forms. No stress. For millions of salary earners, tax season came and went with a single SMS.
For readers new to this, an auto-assessment is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of you completing a return, SARS completes it for you, using information it already receives from your employer, your medical aid, your retirement fund, and your bank.
If you were selected, you received an SMS or email between 1 and 12 July telling you whether a refund is due or whether you owe SARS money. If everything is correct, you do nothing. The refund arrives on its own.
This year, the new Commissioner, Dr Johnstone Makhubu - who took office in May - announced genuinely taxpayer-friendly improvements. The deadline to query or correct an auto-assessment has been extended to October 23, 2026, in line with the general filing deadline, provided your assessment was issued on or before August 27. In previous years, taxpayers had a far tighter window, and many were caught out. That pressure is gone (not totally though).
SARS has also, for the first time, extended auto-assessments to certain provisional taxpayers - people with more complex affairs, such as rental or investment income - following a trial that began in 2025. Add a simplified return, a dropdown list of medical schemes to reduce errors, and the ability to view your Notice of Assessment and upload documents via WhatsApp, and you have a revenue authority modernising faster than most government institutions.
So the real question this season is not whether the system is clever. It is this: should you trust SARS to do your tax return? SARS did it for you - here is why you should still check it.
Here is the uncomfortable truth behind the convenience: an auto-assessment is only as good as the information third parties send to SARS. And SARS does not know everything about you.
Last year, 99.6% of auto-assessed taxpayers accepted their assessments without a single change. On the surface, that sounds like a triumph of accuracy. In my experience, it is more likely a triumph of blind faith - six million taxpayers, one click, and nobody checking for the mistakes. As TaxTim co-founder Daniel Swiegers put it, South Africans assume that because SARS sent you a number, SARS is satisfied with that number. It is not. The legal responsibility for the correctness of your assessment rests with you - not with SARS, your employer, or your medical aid.
Think about what SARS cannot see. It cannot see the medical expenses you paid from your own pocket. It cannot see your home office if you worked from home under a qualifying arrangement. It cannot see donations to a registered charity, a logbook supporting a travel claim, or a retirement annuity contribution made directly rather than through your payslip.
Danielle Luwes, tax director at Hobbs Sinclair, warned this season that these missing deductions could leave taxpayers paying more tax than necessary or forfeiting legitimate refunds.
One trap I want to single out, because I see it in my own practice: retirement annuity contributions that exceeded the annual deduction limit in a previous year must be carried forward and claimed later. Tax experts warned this month that if that carried-forward amount does not link correctly to this year’s assessment, the deduction simply vanishes - no warning, no red flag, nothing. The only person who will ever notice is you or your advisor.
Accepting a flawed assessment does not just shrink your refund. It can cost you money you were legally entitled to keep - permanently if you miss the correction deadline.
Now for the part that the celebratory headlines skipped.
In the very first week of this season, a Durban chartered accountant, Davron Chanderdeo, went public after picking up six errors in auto-assessments he reviewed - including medical aid contributions and retirement annuities the system failed to capture.
More alarming still, he flagged cases where taxpayers who voluntarily paid provisional tax were auto-assessed and refunded their entire provisional payment - money they still owe. Imagine spending that “refund” in August and discovering in February that SARS wants it back, with interest.
There have also been reports of tax directive errors at a pension fund, causing retirement lump sums to appear as taxable on auto-assessments when they should not - creating false tax debts for retirees who did nothing wrong.
And here is the sting in the tail. If you accept an auto-assessment that leaves out income - rental from a granny flat, freelance work, an online side hustle - you have not been let off the hook. You have made a false declaration. If SARS audits you later, and its data-matching capability grows more powerful every year, you face penalties of up to 200% of the tax owed, plus interest. The refund that arrived in 72 hours can become a very expensive loan.
Finally, a warning about criminals exploiting the season: SARS will never ask for your password, OTP, banking PIN, or eFiling login details by email, SMS, or phone. If a message asks for these, delete it.
Do not reject the technology - respect it, but verify it. Log in to eFiling or the MobiApp. Check every figure against your IRP5, medical aid certificate, and retirement fund certificate.
Ask yourself two questions: is there income SARS cannot see, and are there deductions SARS does not know about?
If either answer is yes, file a corrected return before October 23, 2026. If you were not auto-assessed at all, you must file yourself - the filing window opened on 13 July.
And if your affairs are anything more complicated than one salary and one employer, spend a modest fee on a professional review. As Luwes rightly observed, the cost of a review is almost always lower than the cost of an error.
The auto-assessment is a remarkable tool. But a tool is not a guarantee. When the taxman marks his own homework, someone still has to check his work. That someone is you.
Sanjith Hannuman
Image: File
Sanjith Hannuman is a director at AVIB and an employee benefits consultant who holds an MBA from UKZN, is an FSA of the Financial Planning Institute of South Africa, a Human Values Practitioner, and a Behavioural Life Coach who believes in the betterment of life for all.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.