ARTICLE · 29 OCTOBER 2012

Submission Date For VAT Returns Clarified

ENS

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Where a vendor files its value-added tax ("VAT") returns electronically via the South African Revenue Service’s ("SARS") e-Filing system, the vendor was entitled, in terms of proviso (iii) to section 28(1) of the Value-Added Tax Act ("the VAT Act") to submit the VAT return and to make payment of the VAT on or before the last business day of the month following the end of the vendor’s tax period.

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Gerhard Badenhorst

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Where a vendor files its value-added tax ("VAT") returns electronically via the South African Revenue Service's ("SARS") e-Filing system, the vendor was entitled, in terms of proviso (iii) to section 28(1) of the Value-Added Tax Act ("the VAT Act") to submit the VAT return and to make payment of the VAT on or before the last business day of the month following the end of the vendor's tax period.

Proviso (iii) of the VAT Act was amended with effect from 1 October 2012 by the Tax Administration Act ("the TAA") to delete the entitlement of a vendor to file its VAT returns by the last business day of the month. The effect of the amendment was that the vendor is obliged to file the VAT return on or before the 25th day of the month following the end of the tax period, but the vendor is still entitled to make payment on or before the last business day of the month.

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