Due to the Easter weekend falling between 29 March and 1 April 2013, taxpayers are reminded that all returns and payments due in March 2013 must be received by SARS by no later than 28 March 2013. Any returns and payments due and payable by 31 March 2013 must be paid by no later than the last business day before the Saturday, Sunday or public holidays as described in the relevant Acts.
It remains the full responsibility of the taxpayers to ensure that payment is received by SARS on time to avoid any penalties and/or interest being charged.
o Any payment, placed in a SARS drop box, on a business day, must be received no later than 15:00. Where payments are received after 15:00, this will be deemed to have been received on the next business day
o Cheque payments in respect of payroll taxes [Pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), Skills development levy (SDL) and Unemployment insurance fund (UIF)], Value-added tax (VAT) and/or Diesel and dividends tax may not exceed R100 000. This applies irrespective of the number of tax periods being paid. Furthermore, should multiple cheque payments be received, the total amounts received may not exceed R100 000
o In respect of all other taxes, SARS will no longer accept any cheque payments exceeding the total amount of R500 000. This is because banks will no longer accept cheques exceeding R500 000. This decision was taken by the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA), which is the association responsible for managing payments within South Africa, and with the endorsement of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).