Will I get a tax refund if I accept the SARS auto-assessment?
By Nicci Courtney-Clarke · Updated
My auto-assessment shows that I am due a tax refund. Can this be correct? Do you think I will receive the refund if I accept it, or should I rather reject it and file a tax return?
If your auto-assessment shows that you are due a tax refund from SARS, then you should receive the tax refund if you accept the auto-assessment.
Remember, you will only receive a tax refund if you have overpaid tax to SARS during the year. This may happen for example, if you worked for less than a year or perhaps contributed to a retirement annuity fund. You can read our blog here for further details.
However, if you have other deductions to claim (e.g home office expenses or Wear and Tear) there is a chance your refund could be even bigger! However, SARS won't include these deductions in your auto-assessment, because they don't know about them - it is up to you to declare them in your tax return.
For this reason, we advise you to reject the auto-assessment and submit it as normal in order to claim all possible deductions in order to maximize your refund.
For more on auto-assessments, please read our FAQ here.
Remember, you will only receive a tax refund if you have overpaid tax to SARS during the year. This may happen for example, if you worked for less than a year or perhaps contributed to a retirement annuity fund. You can read our blog here for further details.
However, if you have other deductions to claim (e.g home office expenses or Wear and Tear) there is a chance your refund could be even bigger! However, SARS won't include these deductions in your auto-assessment, because they don't know about them - it is up to you to declare them in your tax return.
For this reason, we advise you to reject the auto-assessment and submit it as normal in order to claim all possible deductions in order to maximize your refund.
For more on auto-assessments, please read our FAQ here.