Speaker 1: You with Cape Talk This Africa Milani on Early Breakfast.
Speaker 1: Tax season opens up in about six days. The Revenue
Speaker 1: Service has added an option on the E filing platform
Speaker 1: ahead of that tax season. It's called Express Functionality, which
Speaker 1: will be available to you and I and apparently it's
Speaker 1: going to make it easier for you to view, to
Speaker 1: update and to manage your tax affairs. Joenning. On the
Speaker 1: line is Stephen Devett, chairperson of the Financial Planning Institute's
Speaker 1: Tax Competency Committee. Steven A, very good morning and welcome to.
Speaker 2: The show, Morning Africa. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Is this going to help this express Functionality that SARS
Speaker 1: is designing into the E filing platform.
Speaker 2: I suppose we should say yes. It's not earth shatteringly new.
Speaker 2: Third party information that's been updated into e filing has
Speaker 2: been happening since around twenty twenty one. But what they
Speaker 2: have done is they've added functionality now that makes the
Speaker 2: data that has been provided available to us in advance,
Speaker 2: which we've never previously been able to see, and we
Speaker 2: now have the ability to add other forms that have
Speaker 2: perhaps not been uploaded, which should have been so when
Speaker 2: the banks or the insurance companies or the medical aid funds,
Speaker 2: upload certificates in advance. You can now go in and
Speaker 2: if there's a bank certificate missing that you can identify,
Speaker 2: you can now add that. However, that's always been able.
Speaker 2: We've always been able to add that within the tax
Speaker 2: returns when we open our tax returns after the seventh
Speaker 2: of July. And that's why I say it's not worth
Speaker 2: shatteringly new, but yes, it can help. And I think
Speaker 2: the fact that it's more transparent now that it's there,
Speaker 2: that's a great idea. So does it simplify the process?
Speaker 2: I don't think that makes it any simpler than what
Speaker 2: it's always been. You know, whether you've added it into
Speaker 2: your tax return later or now do it in advance.
Speaker 2: It's six of one and a half a dozen of
Speaker 2: the other. But I do think what Size is aiming
Speaker 2: at is to say, well, if you've if we've got
Speaker 2: all the data now, it will speed up the auto
Speaker 2: assessment process.
Speaker 1: And for me, I imagine that's the greatest benefit. Right
Speaker 1: instead of toing and throwing as you are updating, making
Speaker 1: amendments and changes, you now, as you say, do it
Speaker 1: ahead of time so that when the Revenue services and
Speaker 1: assesses your tax affairs they're able to go cool, you
Speaker 1: owe us or we owe you, and then hopefully settle
Speaker 1: the matter with some speedy fashion.
Speaker 2: Yes, so that you're quite right. So it does allow
Speaker 2: for that obviously for people with very simple returns, that
Speaker 2: then becomes a quick and easy process. For people with
Speaker 2: more complex tax situations where they then have deductions and
Speaker 2: expenses to claim against that that still has to be
Speaker 2: filed and you go through the normal process. But even
Speaker 2: for people with complex tax situations, and it's typically them
Speaker 2: that we have certificates missing, you know, they won't all
Speaker 2: be the and then you can add them up front,
Speaker 2: and then when the filing season opens, you add your
Speaker 2: expenditures with all the supporting documents, and then you can
Speaker 2: go ahead. And I think that for me, you know,
Speaker 2: I have this opinion that nobody should just accept the
Speaker 2: auto assessment when they come up and they say you've
Speaker 2: been auto assessed? Do you want to accept it? And
Speaker 2: you quickly take yes. I believe that even people with
Speaker 2: simple tax returns should in fact open that tax return,
Speaker 2: double check everything that's in there, and also use the
Speaker 2: tax calculator option that's provided within your return, and do
Speaker 2: a provisional calculation for yourself, and you get a provisional assessment,
Speaker 2: and then you double check that and then you save
Speaker 2: and file your return. Too many people think, oh, I'm
Speaker 2: getting five hundred grand back, let me accept it and
Speaker 2: let's move on. I think you know, double check it pays.
Speaker 2: It's always a good idea. It makes you a better
Speaker 2: tax player when you start looking at that sort of stuff,
Speaker 2: even though you've looked at all of this in advance.
Speaker 1: So what put of information should we be looking for, steven,
Speaker 1: and make sure that is included in our assessment.
Speaker 2: I always double check that all the incomes that I've
Speaker 2: got are number one there and that they have been
Speaker 2: properly and correctly processed, and not that numbers have been
Speaker 2: changed or whatever, because it can happen. And similarly with
Speaker 2: the expenses that I'm needing to claim, and I re
Speaker 2: look at it and I say, well, have I got
Speaker 2: all the expenses that I'm allowed and entitled to claim?
Speaker 2: Are they in my return? Have I captured them and
Speaker 2: processed them properly? And then I can accept my assessment
Speaker 2: and my return and I submit and file it. So
Speaker 2: that's really what it's broad based. It's incomes and expenses.
Speaker 2: Make sure that everything's there, make sure that the numbers
Speaker 2: are correct, and by doing that provisional assessment and using
Speaker 2: that tax calculator, you can actually see whether you've captured
Speaker 2: it into the correct fields, because that creates a problem
Speaker 2: if you're putting numbers into a different fiel where Size
Speaker 2: is not expecting it, they reject it and kick it
Speaker 2: out and tell you that you've disclosed your information incorrectly.
Speaker 2: So those are the things that I would check. And
Speaker 2: then of course that leads you to this promise of
Speaker 2: a seventy two hour refund, which is a great idea.
Speaker 2: I'm personally not holding my breath based on the experience
Speaker 2: that we've had over the last fifteen to twenty years.
Speaker 2: But to Sis's credit, if they are now beginning to
Speaker 2: let me use the word inter commas, behave better because
Speaker 2: they've been putting taxpayers under immense pressure to be more
Speaker 2: and more compliant and they believe that we should be better.
Speaker 2: If Size is now going to be doing the same,
Speaker 2: then that's great. You know, I'm looking forward to seeing
Speaker 2: that happen, because taxpayers have become slightly miserable about the
Speaker 2: way Size has been behaving and been putting us under
Speaker 2: great pressure so let's see saras can turn themselves around
Speaker 2: and actually do this. They've not met their promises of
Speaker 2: refund times in all cases in the past, but if
Speaker 2: I do it now, this would be a wonderful news
Speaker 2: and would be a great thing to see.
Speaker 1: Let's hope. We should note that if you are auto assessed,
Speaker 1: you will receive a notification from the seventh until the
Speaker 1: twentieth of July, and then tax players who did not
Speaker 1: receive that notification during that period you encouraged to submit
Speaker 1: your tax returns with accurate information from the twenty first
Speaker 1: of July, and the tax season will close on the
Speaker 1: twentieth of October. Stephen, thank you very much indeed for
Speaker 1: your time this morning. Stephen Devett is a chairperson of
Speaker 1: the Financial Planning Institute's Tax Competency Committee. All of this
Speaker 1: comes into effect on the seventh of July. We did
Speaker 1: reach out to the Revenue Services to request an interview
Speaker 1: on this. There are stress testing the system and offered
Speaker 1: us an interview after the seventh and we'll try and
Speaker 1: allocate as much time as possible so that you can
Speaker 1: get to ask your questions of the tax official.