SARS Filing Season 2026: five changes that actually matter

The dates, briefly

Filing Season 2026 opened on 1 July. Auto-assessment notices went out between 1 and 12 July. From 13 July, non-provisional taxpayers who weren't auto-assessed can file, with a deadline of 23 October 2026. Provisional taxpayers who weren't auto-assessed can also file from 13 July, with until 22 January 2027. Trusts open on 19 September 2026.

That's the easy part, and every accounting blog in the country has it. The more useful question is what's changed in the mechanics of the return. Here are the five worth knowing.

1. Provisional taxpayers can now be auto-assessed

This is the headline change. For Filing Season 2026, SARS is issuing auto-assessments to certain provisional taxpayers at scale for the first time, building on a limited pilot last year. Until now, auto-assessment was effectively reserved for straightforward salaried taxpayers whose third-party data SARS could reconcile on its own.

If you receive one and you agree with it, you do nothing. If you disagree, you amend and submit by 22 January 2027.

2. Partnership expenses finally have their own line

SARS has added a new line item under section 11(a) within the Local and Rental containers, letting taxpayers in a partnership claim expenses they personally incurred in producing that trade income. There's a matching new line under the Eighth Schedule for partners who disposed of partnership assets that aren't a primary residence.

This is genuinely useful and it's been a gap for years. Partners routinely pay for things out of their own pocket that never touch the partnership's books: fuel to get to a site, a piece of equipment, a subscription. Now there's a designated place to claim them.

The catch: the line only helps if you can substantiate it. A claim for personally incurred partnership expenses is exactly the sort of entry that attracts a verification request — and you'll need the slips.

3. Loss ring-fencing now bites at 39%, not 45%

For years of assessment starting on or after 1 March 2026, section 20A of the Income Tax Act has been amended so that the ring-fencing of assessed losses applies from a marginal rate of 39%, rather than the maximum marginal rate of 45%.

In plain terms, section 20A is the provision that stops high earners using loss-making side businesses to shelter their main income. If it applies to you, the loss gets locked inside that trade and can only offset future income from the same trade, instead of reducing your overall taxable income this year.

The threshold for it applying has just dropped sharply. For the year running 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, the 39% marginal rate begins at taxable income of R695,801. The 45% rate only begins at R1,878,601. That is a very large band of taxpayers who were previously outside section 20A's reach and are now inside it.

If you're a salaried professional running a side business at a loss, and your taxable income sits somewhere between roughly R700,000 and R1.9 million, this change is aimed squarely at you. The 45% rate still applies for years of assessment ending before 1 March 2026, so it hits next year's return rather than the one you're filing now. Plan for it.

4. You can now send SARS documents over WhatsApp

Quietly, this is one of the more consequential administrative changes SARS has made. Taxpayers can now view their Notice of Assessment (ITA34) and Statement of Account through WhatsApp, and upload supporting documents directly via WhatsApp when prompted.

SARS has been steadily moving service channels to WhatsApp, and it's now reached the point where the document proving a deduction can be sent to the revenue authority from the same app you use to talk to your bookkeeper.

That's a fair signal about where South African business admin is heading. The friction in expense compliance was never really the filing. It was the six months of shoeboxed slips beforehand. Someone who has been capturing receipts as they go can answer a SARS document request in minutes. Someone who hasn't will spend a weekend with a shoebox, no matter how modern the upload channel is.

5. The Alert Declaration, and a rejection trap

SARS has introduced an Alert Declaration questionnaire designed to surface issues before submission so they can be clarified up front rather than triggering a verification afterwards. Alongside it: more prefilled data (IT3(t) where available), a simplified question set, new date fields for tax residency, and a dropdown of approved medical schemes to cut capture errors.

One trap worth knowing. SARS has added a Recognition of Transfer (ROT) validation. If you declared a lump sum transfer or purchase of annuity between retirement funds, SARS issued a directive, but SARS never received a matching ROT from the receiving fund, your return will be rejected. You'll need to contact the receiving fund, get the ROT submitted, refresh your data on eFiling, and resubmit. If you've moved retirement funds, check this before you file rather than after your return bounces.

What to do this week

If you were auto-assessed and you run a business, don't accept it on autopilot. Check it against your actual expenses first.

If you're filing manually from today, gather your substantiation before you start, not after SARS asks. The five-year retention rule hasn't moved, and SARS does not accept a schedule or list of expenses on its own — it wants the actual invoices and receipts.

That last point catches people. A spreadsheet of what you spent is not evidence of what you spent. Here's what SARS actually requires you to keep, and for how long →

This article is general information, not tax advice. Filing rules and deadlines change — confirm the current position with SARS or a registered tax practitioner.