News and Insights

South Africa Filing Season 2025 Kicks Off – What You Need to Know

Written by activpayroll | Sep 1, 2025 7:45:00 AM

The 2025 tax filing season in South Africa is officially open, from 21 July to 20 October 2025, with extended filing until 19 January 2026 for provisional taxpayers and trusts.

Auto Assessments

Over 5.8 million taxpayers have already received Auto Assessments, an increase from five million last year. Worryingly, 99.6% required zero edits, and over R10.6 billion in refunds were paid within 72 hours.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) automatically calculates these using employer, investment, and medical aid data, embodying their “make tax just happen” philosophy. If there are no changes to report, no action required is required. However, if there's missing or incorrect information, updates can be made via eFiling or the SARS MobiApp