How to stay on top of your taxes

Many of us are guilty of leaving tax filing to the last minute. But there are plenty of easy habits you can adopt that will help you streamline the admin that comes with filing your tax return.

Here are some tips you can take on board now.

1. Get organised

Create a folder so all your tax stuff can be found in one place. ‘Keep all IRP5s tax certificates contribution certificates in one folder on your Gmail account. And create a sub folder per tax year,’ suggests Craig Pringle, owner of tax company The Tax Guys.

Phumla Taho, tax practitioner at Leap Group adds: ‘Prepare all the relevant supporting documents used to complete your tax returns well in advance.’

Taho says standard documents include:

• IRP5/IT3(a) employee certificates as issued by the employer or fund;
• IT3(b) and (c) certificates from financial institutions in respect of interest, dividends, and capital gains;
• Section 18A donation certificates for any donations made;
• Medical aid tax certificates for contributions made during the tax year; and
• Retirement annuity tax certificates for contributions made during the tax year.

2. Get ahead of the deadline

There’s always temptation to kick the tax can further down the road. But it’s better to get it done early.

Pringle points out: ‘Submitting sooner rather than later, returns submitted the last week of SARS deadlines have a higher likelihood refund delays and audits than those submitted in the first few weeks of tax season opening.

3. Keep your slips

It may be an obvious thing to point out, but the experts point out that this is often a neglected action. It’s vital to keep these slips though as more people are now being audited by SARS.

There are easy ways to keep tabs of your slips though if you’re against keeping them in a pile or filing them away

Ruan van Jaarsveld, tax specialist at Hobbs Sinclair Advisory suggests this hack: ‘Create a WhatsApp group for yourself and your partner (you can delete your partner after you’ve created it) and take a photograph or screenshot of each purchase slip, before popping it in a message on the group.

‘In this way, you’re creating one place to store your expenses and circumventing the hassle of sifting through shoeboxes or flip files in futile searches.’

4. Embrace technology

Van Jaarsveld highlights that most banks offer solutions for business accounts allowing integration or plug-in to accounting systems such as Pastel or Xero.

He says: ‘These clever time-saving additions can automatically populate, import and allocate your expenses into your software system.

‘There are also applications available such as 22seven which facilitate expense recording and accounting. Keeping a log of your travel expenses and fuel consumption has also been made significantly easier for tech-savvy individuals. There are numerous applications available to download that assist in keeping a travel log – some of them auto-track your kilometres and fuel usage too.’

5. Keep a note of the submission deadlines

Taho adds: ‘Ensure to submit the requested verification supporting documents within 21 working days to avoid an additional assessment being issued.

Consult an expert

Giles Maynard, regional manager at Carrick Wealth believes it’s always worth your weight in gold to use a tax practitioner.

Maynard says: ‘Since they know how the eFiling system works, these professionals will save you time and countless hours of frustration trying to do it yourself.

‘These days, you can find someone for as little as R800 (depending on how complex yours is), who will also be able to pinpoint various red tape and potential saving areas when it comes to SARS, as well as a concise checklist of items/documents you will need, such as your IRP5.’