13 days left: The SARS number on your auto-assessment may not be yours

13 days.

That is how long you have, from today, Saturday 10 October, until Friday 23 October 2026. After that, SARS can start charging penalties on returns it says are outstanding.

If you got an auto-assessment in July, you probably feel safe. SARS told you that if the assessment is correct, "no further action is needed." You are done.

Here is the catch. The word "correct" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

An auto-assessment is not built from what you know about your year. SARS builds it from what your employer, your medical scheme, your retirement fund and your bank told SARS about you. One bad figure from one of them, and the number on your return is not yours.

Do I need to file a tax return if I was auto-assessed?

Not if the assessment is right. SARS's July 2026 tax digest says plainly that if it is correct, you do not need to do anything. Valid refunds are paid within 72 hours.

If you disagree, or SARS never auto-assessed you, you must file an ITR12 on eFiling or the SARS MobiApp. The window runs from 13 July to 23 October 2026 for most individual taxpayers. Provisional taxpayers have until 22 January 2027.

Auto-assessments went out from 1 to 12 July. One filing-season guide put the number of returns at about 6 million. SARS's digest does not give a figure, so treat that as an estimate.

Some tax advisers warn that staying quiet counts as agreeing. TaxTim says that if you do not respond, SARS treats it as acceptance.

So the question is not "Did I get an assessment?" It is "Do I agree with it?"

How do I check if my SARS auto-assessment is wrong?

Download your assessment notice (the ITA34) from eFiling or the MobiApp. Then hold it next to your own paperwork.

Here are the five numbers worth checking. This is our checklist, built from SARS's own filing guidance.

Check number 3 twice if you changed jobs or had a second job. Two employers means two IRP5s, and it is easy to find only one.

Photo: Nakengtsapoho / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

What if my medical aid or retirement annuity figure is wrong?

This is the trap. You cannot simply type a better number over the top.

SARS's guidance for prepopulated data is clear. If the medical aid or retirement annuity data is wrong, contact the institution and ask it to correct the information with SARS. Only then do you submit your return.

That order matters, because you are up against a clock that the institution does not feel. A medical scheme or fund can take days to reissue a certificate. You have until 23 October.

One consumer-tax guide also says that if a data provider corrects a record after 1 July, your assessment can change. So look again before you submit, not just once.

If you wait until the last Friday, you may be on hold while the clock runs out.

Prices are biting everywhere right now, from taxi fares after the R30 petrol jump to the next petrol price move. A missing medical aid deduction or a wrong RA figure can quietly turn a refund into a bill.

How many days do I have left before the SARS deadline?

Count them here.

SARS has opened service centres on Saturdays ahead of the deadline. On 10 and 17 October, these are open, usually from 08:00 to 13:00:

• Gauteng: Newtown (Johannesburg), Doringkloof, Alberton, Springs, Ashlea Gardens, Pretoria CBD
• Mpumalanga and Free State: Mbombela, eMalahleni, Standerton
• North West: Rustenburg, Mmabatho, Klerksdorp (these three close at 12:00)
• Western Cape: Cape Town, Bellville, Paarl, Worcester, Beaufort West, George, Mitchells Plain
• Eastern Cape: Mthatha, East London, Gqeberha, Kariega

SARS's notice does not say whether you need a booking, so check before you travel. Klerksdorp does return submissions and detail updates only on Saturdays.

Photo: Nakengtsapoho / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

What happens if I miss the SARS deadline?

SARS can charge a fixed-amount administrative penalty. It is not a percentage of what you owe. The amount comes from a table in section 211 of the Tax Administration Act and depends on your taxable income in the last year SARS assessed.

SARS says the penalty can range from R250 up to R16,000 for every month the non-compliance continues. It can recur for up to 35 months.

Here is the table, with our own sum in the last column. It is the monthly amount times the 35-month maximum.

Source: Tax Administration Act, section 211, and SARS administrative penalty guidance. Check your own amount against your eFiling statement of account.

A person earning R400,000 a year faces R500 a month. That is R6,000 over a year if nothing is done, on top of any tax owed.

Some online posts claim penalties compound each month or that the top tax rate is changing. We could not find either claim in SARS's own material, so we have left them out.

Photo: Donald Sepeng / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Can I get a SARS penalty removed?

Sometimes. SARS has a process called a request for remission, which you submit on eFiling. You have to give reasons for the non-compliance.

SARS may remit a penalty in full or in part. You cannot lodge an objection until the remission request has been submitted and considered.

That makes the order of events simple. File first. Then ask. A remission request does nothing for a return that is still missing.

Who signs off on a number that strangers built?

You do.

SARS built your auto-assessment from data your medical scheme, your fund, your employer and your bank sent in. TaxTim says SARS reads silence as a yes. The one person who never typed a figure is the one person it holds to the number.

So tonight, open the ITA34 and put your medical aid certificate next to it. If the numbers do not match, phone the scheme before you phone SARS. You have 13 days, and the institution you need may be the slowest link in the chain.