TAX SEASON OPENS
To produce an income tax return that has any depth to it, any feeling, one must have Lived ....and Suffered”. Frank Sullivan born 1892.
1 July 2011 marked the start of the 2010/1 Tax Season, when more than four million taxpayers will start submitting their annual income tax returns to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
SARS introduced the process with an extremely imaginative series of full-page advertisements in a number of national newspapers with wordplay on taking the EISH out of TAX(EISH)ION and which is worth repeating;
TAX {EISH} ION
Pronunciation: (aysh; eesh ....interp.)
(Origin: South African colloquialism; slang)
-
An expression describing the OVERWHELMING DESIRE to put off submitting your tax return until the very last minute.
-
A referral to DISMAY AND RESIGNATION experienced as you arrive at a SARS branch at the very end of Tax Season to discover that everyone else has also waited to the last minute.
-
An exclamation of CONFUSION, BAFFLEMENT and BEWILDERMENT, typically employed when you try to make sense of all your tax documents.
-
An interjection used to express the SENSE OF DREAD that grows in your stomach as you lie awake at night worrying, and wishing you had been honest on your tax return.
-
A mild curse or utterance of REGRET or REMORSE triggered by the receipt of a penalty for missing the tax submission deadline.
-
An expression of DELIGHT, EXCITEMENT and SURPRISE when you find out that by simply submitting your tax return early, honestly and electronically you can take the “eish” out of tax-eish-ion.
The tax return submission process is a reconciliation of all income, deductions and income tax already paid during the tax year from 1 March 2010 to 28 February 2011 SARS reminds tax payers that it no longer sends out income tax returns to taxpayers unless requested to do so. Taxpayers do not have to wait to receive a return to submit it.
They can visit any SARS branch with their tax documents and personal particulars and a SARS consultant will help them complete and submit their return. During the last tax year more than 1.5 million taxpayers were helped to submit their returns at SARS branches countrywide.
For more information visit www.sarsefiling.co.za or call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 SARS (7277). |
