IRP6 Changes for 2011 P1 Returns
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
SARS announces changes to the rules and content of the IRP6 for 2011 P1 Provisional Tax Returns
At a meeting attended by Greatsoft on 06 May 2010 with the Tax software developers
and SARS eFiling, Mark Kingon from SARS announced the proposed changes for
the Provisional Tax returns that are due on 31 August 2010 in respect of
2011 P1.
| 1 |
New IRP6 form
The layout of the IRP6 form has been completely re-designed
with a style similar to the new IT Return layouts introduced a few
years ago.
- The new form will be provided in PDF format and will be much easier to complete.
- It will also have an embeded calculator; although certain
taxpayer types are not yet supported - e.g. farmers.
- It will have two 3D barcodes - one holding information about the payment reference number and the other will store information about the actual return data.
- This means that SARS will simply scan the IRP6 form data
into their systems without having to capture any information.
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| 2 |
No more bulk distribution of IRP6 forms
In future SARS will send notices to taxpayers informing them to
file IRP6 returns. The actual IRP6 forms will no longer be
sent out in bulk to taxpayers.
-
Taxpayers that are not registered for eFiling will need to request the IRP6 form from SARS.
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| 3 |
No SARS Estimates on IRP6 Forms
As we experienced with 2010 P2, the IRP6 estimates will no longer be
provided by SARS.
-
Along with the taxpayer personal
details, SARS will only provide the details of the Taxable
Income and Basic Amount for the Last Assessed Year.
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| 4 |
No copyright authority will be issued to print IRP
forms
SARS have announced that they will revoke the copyright authority that was previously granted
to the tax software vendors allowing them to print the IRP6 forms
from tax software. There are two main reasons for this:
-
Many forms are printed by taxpayers and tax agents using poor
quality printers. This affects the barcode scanning
process forcing SARS to capture a high volume of forms.
-
SARS are encouraging taxpayers to file returns using eFiling
available from the SARS Website or from the Tax Agents via the
eFiling interfaces offered by GreatSoft and other vendors.
-
SARS have established that the bulk of the IRP6 forms originate
from Tax Agents who use software from one of the vendors.
By revoking this privilege, they are forcing tax agents to
implement eFiling fully across their tax clients.
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| 5 |
Changes allowed for IRP6 returns already submitted
- Taxpayers and Tax Agents will be allowed to submit revisions for IRP6 returns that are already submitted provided the revisions are filed before the due date of the return.
- The revision will simply overwrite a previous submission.
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| 6 |
ISV Accreditation for Tax software vendors
SARS recently introduced an accreditation process for tax
software developers to be registered with SARS as Independent
Software Vendors (ISV).
- The purpose of the accreditation process is to regulate and
implement a code of conduct for tax software vendors and to ensure
that they meet the requirements for updating, testing and security
of the interfaces as published by SARS.
- The ISV status grants tax software vendors the right to
communicate directly with the SARS eFiling systems and allows us
to license our customers to communicate with SARS using software interfaces
developed by ourselves and approved by SARS following a strict
quality assurance process.
- We are pleased to announce that
GreatSoft have successfully completed the ISV registration
process with SARS.
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| 7 |
New eFiling Interface
We announced last year that SARS have developed a new eFiling interface for tax software vendors. As a result, the eFiling interface used by GreatSoft since February 2002 has been
totally redeveloped.
- The old eFiling interface in e-Tax will not be supported from 01
August 2010.
- GreatSoft has developed a completely new module for the new
SARS eFiling interface using the latest technology. The
quality assurance processes for the new GreatSoft eFiling
interface have been completed with SARS.
- Release 7 sites will need to install the new module and will
require 2 hours training to get going. The new GreatSoft eFiling interface will provide support for Release 7 sites only.
- Release 5 sites will need to convert to Release 7 as
soon as possible in order to implement the new eFiling
interface.The only alternative is to manage this process manually.
- The release 5 sites will be contacted by the account
managers over the next few days in this regard.
- The latest changes for IRP6 2011 P1 are expected to be finalised by SARS
eFiling and specification documents will be presented to the software
vendors in
the next 10 days - possibly around 17-19 May 2010.
- Thereafter we will develop the changes to the new eFiling
interface to be ready for testing within 2-3 days.
- The updated software will need to be tested with SARS
and a pilot site will be implemented after sign-off by SARS.
- We expect this process to be completed and the new
software released by the end of May 2010
- SARS also indicated that they will extend the eFiling
interface capabilities to offer the same data that is available on the SARS eFiling
website.
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SARS are one of the most effective public sector organisations in
South Africa in the way they have used technology to improve their levels of
service and effectiveness in collecting taxes. The changes to the
Provisional Tax processes are dramatic but inevitable and they take into
account technology adoption across a wide spectrum of the taxpayer base.
We will be communicating with you further after the SARS processes are finalised
and after the new interface is ready for the August 1st Provisional tax run for 2011.
We expect this to be before the end of this May 2010.
Please contact us on 0861 47328 1 should you require any further information
or clarification of the content of this document. Or, send an email to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Thank You
Regards
Imtiaz Lorgat
