Filing Season 2026 is open, and SARS has changed more than the dates. Simple provisional taxpayers are now auto-assessed, the ITR12 form and wizard have been rebuilt, Section 20A ring-fencing kicks in at 39%, and a new Declaration Alert Questionnaire can keep your clients out of verification queues. Some of it makes filing easier. All of it changes how you check a return. Here is what changed, and what to do before the season gets busy.

Every July, the same question hits tax practitioner WhatsApp groups: are we slowly being made redundant by SARS auto-assessments? The honest answer is no, but the work has changed. Here is what you still do this filing season, what to charge for it, and how to alert your clients before SARS's calculation quietly becomes their final tax assessment.