SARS is auto-assessing 6 million people this year, are you on the list?

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) expects to auto-assess about six million taxpayers during Filing Season 2026.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) expects to auto-assess about six million taxpayers during filing season 2026.

Speaking during the launch of filing season on Thursday, SARS Commissioner Dr Johnstone Makhubu said the revenue service has expanded its auto-assessment programme and will include an additional 200,000 provisional taxpayers with relatively simple tax affairs.

Auto-assessment allows the revenue service to use information received from employers, banks, medical schemes, retirement funds and other third-party data providers to calculate a taxpayer's tax position automatically.

"David is one of those that would belong to the six million odd that we have estimated will be auto-assessed this year. David doesn't have to do anything. From July 1 to July 12, he would belong into a batched population," Makhubu said while explaining one of four taxpayer personas developed by SARS to illustrate the filing process.