A South African company with employees and a VAT number files something with SARS almost every month, and a few more things once a year. This guide goes through each return and payment, when it falls due, and what happens to the date when it lands on a weekend or a public holiday.
If you'd rather see the dates for your own company, our free SARS tax calendar works them out from your year end, VAT category and payroll, and you can download them into your calendar.
noteThis is a general guide to SARS's published rules. Check your own dates on SARS eFiling, and ask your accountant or tax practitioner about anything specific to your company.
Every month, if you have employees
| Filing | What it is and when it's due |
|---|---|
| EMP201 | Your monthly PAYE, UIF and SDL return and payment, due by the 7th of the next month. |
| UIF declaration | The monthly declaration of your employees to the UIF on uFiling, also due by the 7th of the next month. |
The EMP201 for October is due by 7 November, and so on through the year. The UIF declaration goes to the Department of Employment and Labour rather than SARS, which matters when the 7th falls on a weekend, as you'll see below.
VAT, on your category's schedule
A VAT201 is due by the 25th of the month after each VAT period ends. SARS gives you a category when you register, and for most companies it's one of these three:
| Category | Periods |
|---|---|
| A | Two months, ending in January, March, May, July, September and November |
| B | Two months, ending in February, April, June, August, October and December |
| C | One month, which SARS requires once your taxable supplies pass R30 million a year |
SARS also has categories D, E and F with six-monthly, annual and four-monthly periods, for a small number of vendors such as some farmers. If you're in one of those, your eFiling profile shows it.
If you file the return and make the payment through eFiling, you get until the last business day of that month instead of the 25th. Both have to go through eFiling for the later date to apply, so a return filed on eFiling and paid at the bank is still due on the 25th.
Provisional tax and the income tax return
A company pays provisional tax (IRP6) twice a year, with an optional third payment:
- The first payment is due by the end of the sixth month of your financial year.
- The second is due by the last day of the financial year.
- The optional top-up is due seven months after a February year end, or six months after any other year end. It lets you pay in anything still owed before interest starts to run.
The company's income tax return, the ITR14, is due 12 months after the financial year ends.
Once a year
| Filing | When it's due |
|---|---|
| EMP501 | The employer reconciliation. The interim one, for March to August, is due by 31 October, and the annual one, for the whole tax year, by 31 May. |
| COIDA Return of Earnings | Your earnings for the year to the Compensation Fund, between 1 April and 30 June after the tax year ends in February. |
| CIPC annual return | Due within 30 business days of each anniversary of the date your company was incorporated. |
The EMP501 and the COIDA return follow the tax year, which runs from March to February whatever your company's own year end is. The Compensation Fund announces its window by notice each year, so check it before you rely on 30 June.
When a deadline falls on a weekend
SARS moves a deadline that falls on a weekend or public holiday to the business day before it. That covers the EMP201, EMP501, VAT201, provisional tax and the ITR14. So when 7 February is a Sunday, February's EMP201 is due on Friday the 5th.
The UIF declaration and the COIDA Return of Earnings don't have that rule, so they stay on their dates even when those land on a weekend. File them a day or two early in those months. The CIPC annual return counts business days from your anniversary, so weekends and public holidays push it later.
Public holidays include the ones the President declares at short notice, like an election day. Our calendar picks those up once we've added them, so it's worth checking any date close to one.
Get the dates for your company
The SARS tax calendar lists every one of these deadlines for the next 12 months from your year end, VAT category and payroll, with the dates already moved off weekends and public holidays. If you run your books in Looped, it works the dates out from your company's own details and reminds you before each one is due.