Receiving an auto-assessment from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) can feel like one less piece of financial admin to worry about. For small business owners, entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals already juggling clients, cash flow, payroll and compliance, the prospect of SARS calculating your tax for you sounds particularly beneficial.
But there is an important catch: an auto-assessment is only as complete as the information available to SARS.
That means small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners should not automatically assume that a tax assessment showing a reasonable refund, or tax bill, has captured every source of income, contribution or deduction that applies to them.
Automation does not remove your responsibility to check your tax affairs. — Pedri Reyneke, CEO of Multilink Financial Services
Taxpayers who receive an auto-assessment are expected to review the information and, where necessary, submit an updated return with any missing or incorrect details. For SME owners and people with more complicated tax affairs, that review can be particularly important.
“SARS is processing refunds faster than ever, which raises the bar for what taxpayers assume has already been captured correctly and verified on their behalf. However, the system is only able to interpret data it has been provided, and nothing beyond that,” explains Pedri Reyneke, CEO of Multilink Financial Services.
Why You Should Look Twice at an Auto-Assessment
According to SARS, as of the end of 1 July 2026, more than 1,9 million taxpayers were auto-assessed, with about R8 billion in refunds paid out within 72 hours. But there is an important catch: an auto-assessment is only as complete as the information available to SARS.
This means the financial data SARS used to calculate tax returns is based on multiple data points. SARS says its Auto Assessment system uses information received from third parties such as employers, banks, medical schemes, retirement funds and insurers.
“Our goal is to make compliance effortless for honest taxpayers,” said Dr Johnstone Makhubu, SARS Commissioner. “Every enhancement introduced this Filing Season is designed to improve service, reduce complexity, and give taxpayers greater confidence when engaging with SARS. We want taxpayers to spend less time dealing with administration and more time benefiting from our modern digital services.”
However, as comprehensive as the system is, taxpayers must still verify the information provided to SARS to ensure compliance. Automation does not remove your responsibility to check your tax affairs.
Assuming that a Refund Means Everything is Correct
A refund can create a false sense of security. If SARS tells you that you are due a refund, it is tempting to accept the assessment immediately, particularly if the amount looks roughly what you expected.
But the refund is the result of SARS’s calculation based on the information it has.
It’s not confirmation that every possible source of income and every legitimate deduction has been considered.
SARS says taxpayers receiving an auto-assessment should review it carefully and check that the information is correct. If information is incorrect or missing, taxpayers can add the information and submit an updated ITR12 via eFiling or the SARS MobiApp.
Your Retirement Annuity Could be Worth Checking
One of the areas taxpayers should pay attention to is retirement-fund contributions, including contributions to a retirement annuity (RA).
A retirement annuity (RA) is a private, tax-efficient savings vehicle in South Africa designed to fund your retirement. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) regulates and incentivises RAs, allowing you to deduct your contributions from taxable income to lower your overall tax liability.
How the Deduction Works
Retirement annuity contributions are deductible up to 27,5% of a taxpayer’s remuneration or taxable income under section 11F of the Income Tax Act. Effective 1 March 2026 (for the 2027 tax year), the maximum annual monetary limit for retirement fund deductions increased from R350 000 to R430 000. Contributions above that limit carry forward automatically to the following tax year and should appear on the taxpayer’s notice of assessment, the ITA34.
The calculation is not simply a matter of looking at how much you contributed. This figure depends on the current assessment correctly linking back to a historic contribution. When that link breaks, the deduction goes with it, and there is rarely anything that stands out on an assessment that signals something has gone missing.
“Most people treat their retirement annuity as something they set up once and never look at again,” notes Reyneke. “The notice of assessment is not designed to automatically detect a missing figure. The only person checking for any discrepancies is the taxpayer interpreting the document or an advisor a client trusts to pick up such errors.”
What to Check Before Accepting
Reyneke recommends that anyone who has changed jobs, switched RA providers, or made contributions outside a standard payroll deduction look at their assessment and confirm whether last year’s excess contribution has been included.
“If it is missing, or the figure looks unfamiliar, that is worth raising before accepting the assessment or letting the acceptance period lapse. Checking your own numbers is the same discipline you should apply to any document with your name and your money attached to it,” he explained.
You can still submit corrected returns through eFiling until 23 October 2026, even after accepting an auto-assessment.
Other common gaps in auto-assessments to look out for include home office expenses, actual travel claims based on a logbook, and rental or freelance income, none of which SARS’ third-party data is designed to capture.
Reyneke’s advice for this filing season is simple: treat July as an annual check-in on your tax affairs.
“Every year, I consult with multiple clients who have old contributions that never made their way back into their assessment and which they were unaware of. The earlier it gets caught, the less time and money it costs to fix. Read your assessment before you accept it – without exception – to verify that everything is accounted for,” Reyneke concludes.
