Sars efiling

SARS eFiling — tax workflows for SA builds

Use when the user is writing code that calculates VAT, generates payslips / IRP5 / IT3(a) certificates, or maps user input to ITR12 form fields. SARS has no public sandbox for eFiling submission, so this skill is reference-backed: every claim links to a SARS-published guide URL pinned in the frontmatter.

Triggers

• "sars"
• "efiling"
• "vat calc"
• "vat rate"
• "irp5"
• "it3(a)"
• "itr12"
• "tax certificate"
• "source code"
• "paye"

Examples

• examples/vat-calc.ts — delegate to the shared 15% VAT primitive
• examples/irp5-codes.ts — typed registry of the most common Normal Income / Allowance / Fringe Benefit codes with descriptions
• examples/itr12-fields.ts — minimal ITR12 field map for income + deductions sections
• examples/anti-pattern.ts — historic / wrong patterns flagged with the correct replacement

Canonical rules

VAT

• Standard rate is 15% since 2018-04-01. Proposed increases to 15.5% (1 May 2025) and 16% (1 April 2026) were reversed by clause 13 of the 2025 Rates Bill — the rate remains 15%. Source: sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/value-added-tax/.
• Compulsory registration threshold rises from R1m to R2.3m (effective 1 April 2026). Voluntary threshold rises from R50k to R120k.
• Zero-rated supplies are subject to VAT at 0% (still report). Exempt supplies are outside the VAT system entirely. Don't conflate them.
• Inclusive ↔ exclusive conversions in shared/za-primitives/vat.ts use banker's rounding to 2 decimal places — matches SARS guidance for tax fractions.

IRP5 / IT3(a) source codes

• Code triples: a Main Code is the local (SA-source) value (36xx); the corresponding 51xx offset is the same income type from a foreign source (e.g. 3601 → 3651). Codes ending in 99 are reserved.
• Categories:
  • Normal Income — 3601..3623 / 3651..3673
  • Allowances — 3701..3724 / 3751..3774
  • Fringe Benefits — 3801..3825 / 3851..3875
  • Lump Sum — 39xx
  • Deductions — 4xxx
• "Sub-code rationalisation" rules — older codes have been folded into newer main codes (e.g. 3603/3610 must be reported under 3601 from 2013 onwards). Always cross-check the year of assessment against the SARS guide for the current rationalisation rules.

ITR12

• The ITR12 is the personal income tax return form. Code matches the IRP5 source codes for income; the form itself is rendered from a schema published by SARS.
• For programmatic eFiling submission, SARS provides the e@syFile and HTTPS upload endpoints — there is no public REST sandbox. Most builds therefore generate the PDF or the e@syFile CSV input and submit manually.

Common mistakes

• Calling VAT 14% in 2026 — rate changed to 15% on 2018-04-01 and has not changed since (the proposed 2025/2026 increases were reversed).
• Using a Personal Income IRP5 code on a corporate payslip — IRP5 source codes are for Employees' Income Tax certificates. Corporate income uses different categories on the ITR14 (corporate return).
• Treating zero-rated and exempt as the same — zero-rated supplies still appear on the VAT201 return at 0%; exempt supplies do not. Misclassifying changes the input-tax claim.
• Generating IT3(a) certificates without the section-1 declaration block — SARS rejects on intake.
• Hardcoding the registration thresholds — they change every few budget cycles. Read them from configuration tied to the year of assessment.
• Reporting code 3603 / 3610 on a 2026 certificate — these have been rationalised into 3601 from 2013 onwards.

Configuration

No secret material — SARS published guides are public. The IRP5 code registry in examples/irp5-codes.ts carries an effectiveFrom field per entry so consumers can pick the right code for the year of assessment they are working with.

See also

• shared/za-primitives/vat.ts — the 15% VAT primitive this skill delegates to.
• skills/popia/SKILL.md — SARS source codes can be combined with employee identifiers; the same POPIA storage / consent rules apply.