July Recap Blog
With yet another month in 2020 having come to an end, it is time to recap on the month of July and look ahead to what August has to offer!
COVID-19 TERS Extension
Update 4 August: The cut-off point for April and May TERS applications has been extended and closure will be subject to 14 day’s notice – Read more here.
As was covered in our blog on 21 July 2020, deputy Minister Moloi announced the extension of COVID-19 TERS to 15 August, aligning this with the extension to the Disaster Management Act.
Applications for April and May close today, 31 July 2020, but we are still waiting for an announcement on the opening of applications for July.
Please also note that as previously mentioned the home page of the TERS application portal has been altered. A new message outlining urgent steps for the employer to take, in order for the UIF to be able to authorise payment of an application. Please take a look in case any action on your part is required for claims already submitted.
Use of the Reduced Working Time Category to Claim Benefits
The UIF has stated that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of applications for UIF under the reduced working time benefits code. This shows that a significant number of employees are likely receiving financial support through their accrued UIF benefits of receiving these through TERS. The UIF and Department of Labour have reiterated that TERS is the better option for employees as long as it remains in force.
In our blog about the time spans of the different COVID-19 support measures, we detailed the need to move employees across to UIF benefits upon the conclusion of the TERS scheme. With the abovementioned extension to TERS, switching employees should be delayed until at least 15 August 2020.
SARS Auto-Assessment Process
As mentioned in our previous blog from 7 July, SARS is rolling out a new, streamlined individual tax return service in August. Rather than having to manually complete your individual tax return, it may be automatically assessed if you meet SARS’ conditions. The new service will be run throughout the month of August and provided SARS has all the necessary tax information they need (IRP5 etc.) you and your employees will receive an SMS inviting you to review your statement and accept it if you are in agreement with it.
For more information on the scheme and an FAQ you can visit the SARS Auto-Assessment page.
Steps to Follow
- Log into eFiling or the SARS MobiApp.
- Click on “Tax Returns”
- A pop up will appear stating “SARS has simulated a tax return for you. Click “Continue”.
- Once the ITR12 has loaded you can either select “Accept” or “Edit Return”.
If you have selected accept, you will be redirected to a list of your submitted ITR12s, or alternatively if you wish to edit your ITR12 you can do so.
If you have accepted the tax return SARS should issue you with an ITA34 Notice of Assessment. After you have received this that’s it, you’re done!
SARS has also provided video guides which you can find here.
Bi-Annual Tax Period
The end of August marks the halfway point through the tax year, meaning that soon after it will be time to start preparing for interim filing. Due to SimplePay’s continuing commitment to make your payroll life straightforward, we will endeavour to make sure that we have completed all necessary preparations and testing for when the interim biannual filing opens.
We hope that you have found the above information useful. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at support@simplepay.co.za.
Equally, if you are not yet a client of SimplePay but would like to be, or if you’d like to know how we can take the effort out of filing and calculating payroll, get in contact with us or visit our website: www.simplepay.co.za.
Keep well and stay safe.
Team SimplePay