SARS Filing Season 2026: Every Date, and What Changed This Year

SARS Filing Season 2026 is officially underway, and South African taxpayers need to know exactly when they are expected to file.

The dates are not the same for everyone.

Your deadline depends on whether you have been auto-assessed, are a non-provisional taxpayer, a provisional taxpayer or are filing on behalf of a trust.

For the 2026 Filing Season, SARS began issuing Auto Assessment notices on 1 July 2026, while the general filing period opened on 13 July 2026. Non-provisional taxpayers have until 23 October 2026, while provisional taxpayers have until 22 January 2027. Trust filing runs from 19 September 2026 to 22 January 2027.

There are also several important changes this year, including more information being pre-populated on tax returns, a redesigned ITR12, expanded WhatsApp services and changes affecting tax residency, medical aid information and verification.

Here is what taxpayers need to know.

SARS Filing Season 2026: Important Dates at a Glance

The official SARS deadlines for the 2026 Filing Season are:

These dates relate to annual income tax filing. They should not be confused with provisional tax IRP6 payment deadlines, which operate separately during the tax year.

1. Auto Assessments: 1 July to 12 July 2026

SARS began the 2026 Filing Season with its Auto Assessment programme.

Between 1 July and 12 July 2026, SARS issued Auto Assessment notifications to selected taxpayers whose tax affairs could be assessed using information already available to SARS.

SARS generally receives third-party information from organisations including:

• Employers
• Banks
• Medical schemes
• Retirement funds
• Insurers

Using this information, SARS can calculate a taxpayer’s assessment without requiring that person to manually complete the entire ITR12 process.

What should you do if you were auto-assessed?

Receiving an Auto Assessment does not mean you should ignore it.

You should log into SARS eFiling or the SARS MobiApp and check that the information used by SARS is correct.

Look particularly at your:

• IRP5 or IT3(a) information
• Medical aid contributions
• Retirement annuity contributions
• Investment income
• Banking details
• Other income
• Allowable deductions

If the Auto Assessment is correct, SARS says no further action is required. You do not need to submit a separate ITR12 merely to confirm the assessment.

If information is missing or incorrect, you can amend the information and submit your tax return.

2. Non-Provisional Taxpayers: Deadline Is 23 October 2026

The general filing period for non-provisional individual taxpayers opened on 13 July 2026.

The deadline is:

23 October 2026.

A non-provisional taxpayer is typically someone who earns a salary or wage from an employer and has PAYE deducted from their earnings throughout the year.

Their tax affairs tend to be relatively straightforward compared with someone operating a business or earning substantial additional income.

If you were not auto-assessed, you generally need to access your ITR12 through eFiling or the SARS MobiApp and submit it before the deadline where you are required to file.

Taxpayers should avoid assuming that SARS already has every piece of information simply because much of the return is pre-populated.

You remain responsible for checking the accuracy and completeness of the return you submit.

3. Provisional Taxpayer Filing Deadline: 22 January 2027

Provisional taxpayers have a longer annual income tax filing period.

Their filing season runs from:

13 July 2026 to 22 January 2027.

A provisional taxpayer will commonly earn income outside normal employment, potentially including income from:

• A business
• Freelance or consulting work
• Rental property
• Investments
• Other income sources

Provisional taxpayers generally pay estimated income tax during the year through the provisional tax system rather than waiting until their final annual assessment.

However, it is important to distinguish the annual ITR12 filing deadline of 22 January 2027 from separate IRP6 provisional tax submission and payment dates.

They are not the same obligation.

A Major Change: More Provisional Taxpayers Can Be Auto-Assessed

One of the noteworthy developments in recent filing seasons has been SARS’s expansion of Auto Assessments to certain provisional taxpayers.

For the 2025 Filing Season, SARS allowed eligible provisional taxpayers to express interest in receiving an Auto Assessment.

For the 2026 Filing Season, the process has progressed further.

SARS states that certain eligible provisional taxpayers may now be issued Auto Assessments. If such a taxpayer agrees with the outcome, no further action is required.

If a provisional taxpayer disagrees with the Auto Assessment, they can amend and submit the relevant return by the provisional taxpayer deadline of 22 January 2027.

This is another sign of SARS moving toward greater reliance on third-party data and automated assessments.

4. Trust Filing Season: 19 September 2026 to 22 January 2027

Trusts have a different opening date from individuals.

The 2026 Trust Filing Season opens on 19 September 2026 and closes on 22 January 2027.

Trustees and tax practitioners responsible for trusts should therefore ensure that accounting records and supporting information are prepared before filing opens rather than waiting until January.

Trust tax compliance has become an increasingly detailed area, particularly where trusts have beneficiaries, distributions, capital gains, assets or cross-border arrangements.

What Changed for SARS Filing Season 2026?

The filing dates are important, but taxpayers will also notice several changes when completing their 2026 returns.

SARS has specifically highlighted a number of improvements.

1. More Information Is Pre-Populated

SARS is continuing its shift toward a system in which taxpayers have to manually capture less information.

For 2026, certain additional information, including available IT3(t) data, can be pre-populated into the tax return.

This should reduce capturing, but taxpayers must still confirm that the data is correct.

Pre-populated does not mean automatically accurate.

Third-party information can occasionally contain errors or may not capture all of a taxpayer’s circumstances.

2. The ITR12 Has Been Simplified

SARS says the 2026 return has been redesigned with clearer questions and less repetition.

The intention is to make the return easier to navigate and reduce taxpayer errors.

The eFiling experience has also been updated, including easier access to the Notice of Assessment (the ITA34) and clearer warnings where a return is overdue.

For taxpayers who only file once a year, seemingly small improvements to wording and navigation can make the process considerably easier.

3. SARS Wants Better Information About Tax Residency

Tax residency continues to receive greater attention.

For Filing Season 2026, SARS introduced additional questions and date fields relating to tax residency status.

This matters particularly for South Africans who:

• Work overseas
• Have moved abroad
• Returned to South Africa
• Earn foreign income
• Have ceased South African tax residency

Tax residency can have major consequences for how income and capital gains are taxed.

Taxpayers with international affairs should therefore be particularly careful when answering residency-related questions.

4. Selecting Your Medical Aid Should Be Easier

Another practical improvement is the introduction of a dropdown list of approved medical schemes.

Instead of taxpayers having to enter certain medical aid information manually, the new selection functionality is designed to help taxpayers choose the correct scheme and reduce errors.

5. More SARS Services Are Now Available Through WhatsApp

WhatsApp is becoming a more significant SARS service channel.

For the 2026 Filing Season, SARS says taxpayers can use WhatsApp to access services including:

• Checking Auto Assessment status
• Accessing a Notice of Assessment, ITA34
• Accessing a Statement of Account, SOA
• Uploading supporting documents when requested

The expansion is particularly useful for taxpayers who may not regularly use desktop eFiling.

However, it also creates an obvious opportunity for fraudsters.

SARS warns that it will never request passwords, OTPs, banking PINs or eFiling login credentials through email, SMS, social media or telephone.

Taxpayers should be extremely careful with any message claiming to originate from SARS.

6. SARS Is Trying to Reduce Unnecessary Verifications

A new declaration-alert questionnaire has also been introduced.

According to SARS, the questionnaire is intended to identify possible issues earlier in the submission process and reduce the chances of a tax return being unnecessarily selected for verification.

This does not mean SARS verification has disappeared.

Where SARS needs further evidence, taxpayers may still be required to submit supporting documentation.

Keeping your records remains essential.

Recognition of Transfer Validation for Retirement Funds

There is also an important technical change affecting certain retirement-fund transfers.

SARS introduced a Recognition of Transfer (ROT) validation process following changes to its tax directive system.

A tax return can be rejected where a taxpayer declares a retirement-fund lump-sum transfer or purchase of an annuity, SARS issued the relevant directive, but SARS has not received a matching Recognition of Transfer from the receiving fund.

Where this happens, the taxpayer may need to contact the receiving retirement fund and ensure that the required ROT information is submitted before refreshing the data on eFiling.

Which Tax Year Are You Filing For?

This point regularly causes confusion.

Filing Season 2026 generally relates to income earned during the 2026 year of assessment, which for most individuals ran from:

1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026.

It should not be confused with the 2027 tax year, which runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027.

So, while you may physically submit your tax return during July, August or October 2026, you are generally declaring income from the tax year that ended on 28 February 2026.

Documents You Should Have Before Filing

Before submitting your ITR12, taxpayers should gather the information relevant to their circumstances.

This could include:

• IRP5 or IT3(a) certificates
• Medical aid tax certificates
• Retirement annuity contribution certificates
• Investment income certificates
• Bank interest certificates
• Rental income and expense records
• Business income and expense records
• Travel logbooks where applicable
• Section 18A donation certificates
• Capital gains information
• Foreign income information
• Supporting documents for deductions claimed

Even where information has already been populated by SARS, compare the figures against your own records before submitting.

Don’t Ignore an Auto Assessment

One of the biggest mistakes taxpayers can make is assuming that Auto Assessment means SARS has guaranteed that everything is correct.

SARS calculates the assessment from information available to it.

But SARS may not know about every deductible expense, qualifying contribution, rental transaction, capital gain, foreign income item or change in your personal circumstances.

That is why SARS expressly tells taxpayers to review their assessment before taking further action.

If something is wrong, correct it.

If everything is correct, no additional ITR12 submission is required for an auto-assessed taxpayer who accepts the outcome.

SARS Filing Season 2026: The Dates You Should Remember

If you remember nothing else, remember these four dates:

12 July 2026, Auto Assessment notification period ended.

23 October 2026, Deadline for non-provisional individual taxpayers.

19 September 2026, Trust Filing Season opens.

22 January 2027, Deadline for provisional taxpayers and trusts.

The broader trend is also clear.

SARS is moving toward more automation, more third-party data, more pre-populated information and greater use of digital channels. The filing process may be becoming easier, but that does not remove the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure that information submitted to SARS is complete and correct.

The safest approach is simple: keep accurate records, review your SARS information carefully and file well before your applicable deadline.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute tax advice. Tax obligations depend on individual circumstances. Consult SARS or a registered tax practitioner where professional advice is required.