Thanks to Lawrence for pointing out a small but vital error in my last
communication... just shows you shouldn't do these things in t'middle o' the
night.

The correction is to the very first line where I said that the opening of
tax season means that individuals can NOT submit their returns. That was
meant to say they can NOW submit their returns!

And a question from a client as to the timing for provisional taxpayers. It
is correct that the return is only due by 31 January: if you miss that
deadline SARS is entitled to charge penalties. However, if you owe any tax,
SARS can start charging interest from 1 October. So, if you anticipate a
liability and want to avoid the interest, then even though the return can be
delayed, you must make a payment by 30 September. This is the monster
previously known as the "topping up payment". There is a proposal that this
situation will start to apply to everyone (currently it only applies to
provisional taxpayers) and in fact, the change is even in the law and has
been for a while. But the lawmakers, in their wisdom, made it subject to an
announcement of the starting date by the minister of finance, and as far as
I am aware, Pravin hasn't bothered to do that yet.