SARS Revised ITR12 eFiling Guide: 12 Changes That Bite
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SARS has reissued its ITR12 eFiling guide on 24 July 2026. This new guide documents the systems that have been causing most of the queries this filing season, including the auto-assessment waiting room, the new declaration questionnaire, biometric login checks, and the tighter rules around banking details and requests for correction. Below is a summary of the new features of this guide.
That guide is Revision 32, effective 24 July 2026. It is the manual for submitting the ITR12 on eFiling, and it quietly documents almost every system change that has been generating queries this season. Read as a manual, it is dull. Read as a risk register, it tells you where your unbilled hours are going to disappear.
Here is what is actually in it.
Logging in works differently
🔶 Biometric facial recognition is now part of the process when you update security contact details. You cannot change the cell number or email on the profile without passing it.
🔶 The OTP goes to one channel only. You choose either SMS or email as the preferred method. You enter the last 6 digits.
🔶 An "Update Contact Details" tab appears on the landing page when SARS records are out of date. Each detail shows as Confirmed, Unconfirmed or Pending. Pending needs a Refresh to clear.
🔶 The dashboard has new quick links: ITA34 Notice of Assessment, Statement of Account, Tax Compliance Status, Refund Status, Online Booking, Lump Sum Calculator and the new Two-Pot Calculator. Tax Compliance Status, Refund Status and Account Balance now show the date and time they were last refreshed.
Practitioner and organisation profiles see fewer quick links until an individual taxpayer is selected.
The Auto-Assessment Waiting Room is now official
During peak auto-assessment periods, individual users are diverted to a limited functionality page called the AA Service.
🔷 It is read-only. You can view the ITA34 and the ITR12, nothing more.
🔷 To edit or resubmit anything you must log into full eFiling.
🔷 Buttons at the bottom let you register what you want to do (make a payment, update banking details, submit or edit a return, request a statement of account, view correspondence). Your request is recorded.
🔷 If high volume restrictions are active, the "Continue to eFiling" button does not appear at all. You have to come back later.
🔷This applies to individual profiles only.
🔷Practical point: you cannot do productive work in the waiting room. Plan your filing blocks around the busy windows.
Auto-assessments are estimated assessments under section 95
SARS issues an "Original Assessment based on Estimates". Agree and you do nothing.
🔷 Disagree and you file the original return. Section 95 has been amended so you may submit the return or relevant material without first requesting an extension.
🔷 Request for Extension is available for up to 3 years from the date of assessment. If you ask more than 40 business days after the estimate was issued, you must give reasonable grounds.
🔷 One request per tax period. If it was rejected before, the estimate becomes final. If it was granted, you cannot request again.
🔷 If SARS rejects your submitted return you get a decline letter, no ITA34, and you may dispute. If SARS accepts it and issues a reduced or additional assessment, a dispute is not allowed.
The new Declaration Questionnaire (watch this one)
After you submit the ITR12, SARS may issue a risk-based questionnaire if the return is flagged for verification or audit.
🔷 You have 24 working hours, calculated as 8 working hours per day.
🔷 "Complete Later" does not save your answers. The status changes to Postponed and you start again.
🔷 Declining may itself trigger a verification.
🔷 Statuses on the Income Tax Work Page: Received, Submitted, Declined, Postponed, Not Completed, Closed.
🔷 A Request for Correction can trigger a new questionnaire with a fresh 24 hour window.
🔷 Reminders go out by email or SMS while the window is still open.
Banking details carry real penalty risk
The landing page now has an "Update My Personal Income Tax Bank Account" link.
🔷 An OTP is required for bank detail changes. This applies to ITR12 submissions and Requests for Correction.
🔷 Every change is verified. SARS may ask for supporting documents.
🔷 The declaration defaults to "I use South African bank accounts". Selecting "I have no South African bank account" clears the existing details.
🔷 Falsely declaring no South African bank account can attract administrative penalties of up to R16 000, depending on taxable income.
🔷 A wrong account number means the return does not file. The status shows "Saved with invalid bank details" until you fix it.
Residency now drives which return you get
🔶 If residency status is updated on the RAV01, the ITR12 auto-refreshes and switches between the Resident and Non-Resident sections.
🔶 This realigns both third party data and information you captured manually.
🔶 Refresh Data now has separate options for Trust Income, Return Type and Refresh All. Refresh All can overwrite prepopulated data and change the return type, so use it deliberately.
Returns SARS will reject outright
🔶 Duplicate IRP5, or an employer PAYE number that does not exist.
🔶 Tax directive mismatches on lump sums: wrong directive number, different accrual date, different source code, different amount, a directive with no lump sum declared, or a missing certificate number. Only the employer or fund administrator can fix these. Refresh the IRP5 or IT3(a) data afterwards.
🔶 Invalid IT3(BO) beneficial ownership number.
🔶 Outstanding Recognition of Transfer (ROT) on a retirement fund transfer.
🔶 A VDP number on a return that results in a refund.
Total discharge, when SARS cancels a return
Under section 98 of the Tax Administration Act, SARS may withdraw an assessment that was issued to the wrong taxpayer, for the wrong period, or off an incorrect payment allocation or a fraudulent or fictitious return.
🔷 The status becomes Cancelled across every version of that return.
🔷 You cannot request a correction, make a payment, or dispute a discharged assessment.
🔷 You can capture and submit a new return for the same year.
Request for Correction is more restricted
An RFC is not allowed where:
🔷 The return is in an issued or saved state
🔷 One allowable RFC has already gone in for an active verification
🔷 An audit is in progress, or an audit or revised declaration has been finalised
🔷 SARS performed an agreed estimate
🔷 Supporting documents have already been submitted for an active verification
🔷 The assessment is older than 3 years and the correction would produce a reduced assessment.
Verification and understatement penalties
🔶 You get 15 working days from the date of the verification letter to submit supporting documents or an RFC.
🔶 Understatement penalties run up to 200%.
🔶 Documents that fully support the claim: no USP.
🔶 Partial support, a partial RFC, no response, or documents that do not support the claim: USP applies.
🔶 Accepting the declaration puts you on the 100% path. Failing to supply documents or an RFC puts you on the 200% path.
Supporting document rules
🔶 Accepted formats: pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, jpg, gif.
🔶 Maximum 5MB per document, maximum 20 documents.
🔶 Rejected: password protected files, duplicate file names, spreadsheets with multiple sheets, blank documents.
🔶 WhatsApp and the SARS Online Query System are accepted if you quote the correct case number. Limits: there are 10 documents per submission and 10 submissions per case number, and no apostrophes or ampersands in file names.
🔶 Keep supporting documents for 5 years.
Other points worth flagging to clients and staff
🔶 Individuals cannot request returns older than 5 years on eFiling or MobiApp. Registered tax practitioners can.
🔶 Unregistered tax practitioners can only Save or "Save Return For Filing". The status shows "Prepared for Filing" and the taxpayer must submit it, through shared access or at a branch.
🔶 Selecting the 2027 tax year triggers a warning. It is only for deceased estates, insolvency, or ceasing residency, and those returns are selected for verification or audit.
🔶 The tax calculator is not available for complex returns.
🔶 Married in community of property makes spouse initials and ID or passport details mandatory, and spouse investment income containers appear from the 2024 year of assessment.
🔶 Payments: only Credit Push can initiate a payment. Authorised Debit Pull is for verification only. Unauthorised payments can be cancelled under "Awaiting Authorisation". Payment history searches should stay within a 6 month range.
🔶 Historic assessment notices are available from 1999 to 2026.
Some issues that are still outstanding
Individuals cannot request returns older than five years on eFiling or MobiApp. Registered CBAP practitioners can, which is a live argument for the designation when a client walks in with four unfiled years.
Unregistered practitioners can only Save or "Save Return For Filing". The status shows "Prepared for Filing" and the taxpayer has to submit it themselves, through shared access or at a branch.
The tax calculator is not available for complex returns. Selecting the 2027 tax year triggers a warning because it is meant for deceased estates, insolvency or ceasing residency, and those returns get selected for verification. Married in community of property makes spouse initials and ID or passport details mandatory. On payments, only Credit Push initiates a payment, Authorised Debit Pull is verification only, and payment history searches should stay inside a six month range.
What to do this week
Check the Income Tax Work Page daily for every submitted return. A 24 hour questionnaire window does not survive a weekly review.
Run a profile clean-up before you file: check contact details, banking details, residency status, outstanding prior year returns. The biometric and OTP steps make late fixes slow.
Reconcile every lump sum to the tax directive before submission, and every IRP5 for multi-employer clients.
Write the verification response into your engagement letter. Fifteen working days, a 24 hour questionnaire and a 200% penalty exposure are real work. Bill for them.
Sell the clean-up as a service. A pre-filing compliance review is a fee, not a favour. Clients who have just watched a refund stall for six weeks understand why.
Experiencing issues? Check out CIBA’s ITR12 CIBA Troubleshooting Guide here.
Every one of those clients employs people. The hospitality client with seasonal staff, the owner-driver in logistics, the spaza operator with no formal bank account. When their compliance holds, they keep trading and keep paying wages. When it breaks on a technicality buried in a SARS guide, the cost runs well past your invoice.
You are not doing admin. You are keeping businesses inside the system.
👉 Join CIBA and learn you how to turn a SARS guide into a service line your clients pay for.
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