Easier Filing for Non-Resident Taxpayers
SARS has made it simpler for South African taxpayers living abroad to file their 2025 personal income tax returns.
If you're not a South African tax resident but still earn South African-sourced income, there's good news: the 2025 ITR12 tax return now includes an improved process to make sure you complete the right sections. This change helps prevent errors and makes filing easier.
For now, non-residents must activate the correct version of the tax return using SARS’s Online Query System (SOQS).
Here’s how:
Go to the SARS website and click on the SOQS icon.
Select “Non-Resident Tax Return Type.”
Fill in your personal details.
You’ll get a One-Time Pin (OTP) to confirm your identity.
Choose the 2025 tax year and answer the follow-up questions.
Your tax return will then be correctly formatted and available on eFiling.
SARS says this information will be saved for future use—unless your circumstances change.
A built-in version of this non-resident option will be added to the return “wizard” in a future update.
Read the communication from SARS here.
