SARS Sent Me an Auto-Assessment — What Do I Do?

If you’ve logged into eFiling and found that SARS has already completed your tax return for you, you’ve received an auto-assessment. It might feel like a gift — no forms to fill in, no stress. Before you click accept and move on, stop. There is a real possibility that auto-assessment is wrong, and in some cases it’s wrong by a significant amount, either in SARS’s favour or yours.

What Is a SARS Auto-Assessment?

SARS auto-assesses certain individual taxpayers each year rather than waiting for them to file. The assessment is pre-populated using data that SARS already receives from third parties: your employer sends your IRP5, your medical aid reports your contributions and claims, your bank reports interest income, your retirement fund administrator reports contributions, and your insurer may report retirement annuity premiums.

SARS calculates your tax based on that data and issues the result as a completed return. If SARS believes you owe money, they’ll tell you. If there’s a refund due, they may have already put it in your bank account before you even looked.

Auto-assessments are common for salaried employees with a single employer, standard medical aid membership, and no other significant income. If your financial life is more complicated than that, the pre-populated figures almost certainly don’t tell the whole story.

The Critical Window: 40 Business Days to Respond

This is the detail that trips people up most often. Once SARS issues your auto-assessment, you have 40 business days to review it and either accept it or edit it. If you do nothing — if you don’t log in, or you log in but don’t actively respond — the assessment is deemed accepted automatically when that window closes.

Deemed acceptance means SARS treats the auto-assessment as your filed return. If it’s wrong in SARS’s favour, you’ve essentially agreed to pay more tax than you owe. If it’s wrong in your favour, SARS may raise an additional assessment later and charge interest and penalties on the underpayment.

Do not leave this unattended.

Why You Should Never Just Accept Without Reviewing

The third-party data SARS uses is often accurate as far as it goes — the problem is what it leaves out. Common issues we see every year:

• Medical credits are understated. SARS receives medical aid contribution data, but out-of-pocket qualifying medical expenses (co-payments, specialist shortfalls, dentistry, optometry) are not in any third-party feed. If you had significant qualifying out-of-pocket medical expenses, they can materially reduce your tax liability — but only if you include them.
• Retirement annuity contributions are missing or partial. If your RA contributions aren’t reflected in the auto-assessment, you’re losing a deduction you’re entitled to.
• Rental income and rental expenses. Rental income is taxable. Equally, attributable expenses (bond interest, rates, agent’s commission, maintenance) are deductible. None of this appears in an auto-assessment unless you put it there.
• Travel allowances and the logbook. If your employer pays you a travel allowance, SARS may include it in your income without any corresponding deduction. The business travel deduction depends on your logbook, which SARS has no access to.
• Side income of any kind. Freelance work, consulting, sales commissions from a second payer, dividends from a private company — anything not from your primary employer is either missing or only partially included.

How to Review Your Auto-Assessment on eFiling

1. Log into eFiling at efiling.sars.co.za.
2. Navigate to Returns > Returns Issued.
3. Open your ITR12 for the relevant tax year.
4. Review each section against your own records: check IRP5 figures, verify medical aid figures, check retirement annuity contributions, and consider any additional income or deductions.
5. If everything is correct, accept the assessment.
6. If anything is wrong or incomplete, click “Edit” and make the necessary changes before submitting.

What If You Already Accepted and It Was Wrong?

It’s not the end of the road, but it’s harder. You can lodge an objection after the fact, subject to strict time limits (typically 80 business days from the date of assessment). The admin burden is substantially higher than reviewing properly before the window closes.

When to Handle It Yourself vs. When to Call Us

If you have a single employer, no side income, standard medical aid, and no rental properties, your auto-assessment is likely straightforward. Review the figures, confirm they match your IRP5 and medical aid certificate, and accept if everything lines up.

Call in a tax practitioner if you have rental income, a travel allowance, retirement annuity contributions, significant out-of-pocket medical expenses, freelance or consulting income, foreign income or assets, or if you received a retirement lump sum during the year. We review auto-assessments for our clients as part of our annual tax compliance service. Get in touch before your 40-day window runs out.