How to register for SARS eFiling

To register for SARS eFiling for the first time, go to the SARS website or open the SARS MobiApp, choose Register, and work through the personal-details, contact-details and login screens. You need a valid South African ID. If you do not yet have a tax reference number, SARS registers you for personal income tax automatically during the process and issues one.

Here is the full sequence, and the points where first-timers most often get stuck.

Before you start

Have these ready, because the screens ask for them and a mismatch stalls verification:

• Your South African ID number.
• A cellphone number and email address you control (SARS sends a one-time PIN to them).
• Your own banking details.
• Your most recent IRP5 if you have one, so the figures you expect match what SARS holds.

Step by step

1. Open the registration page. On the SARS website choose Register, or do the same in the SARS MobiApp. The steps are identical on both.
2. Complete the personal-details screens. Enter your name, ID number and the rest of the requested information, then continue to the next screen.
3. Enter your contact and login details. Provide your cellphone number and email address, then choose a username and password.
4. Verify with the one-time PIN. SARS sends an OTP to your phone or email. Enter it to confirm the contact details are really yours.
5. Accept the terms. Read the terms and conditions and accept them to finish creating the profile.
6. Wait for verification. SARS checks the information you captured. The outcome appears on your eFiling registration verification page or arrives by email.

If you have never had a tax number, you do not register for one separately first. When you complete eFiling registration without an existing income-tax registration, SARS auto-registers you for personal income tax and issues a tax reference number as part of the process.

Why it matters whether you are above the threshold

Registration is administrative; whether you actually owe tax depends on your income. For the 2026 year of assessment the tax threshold for people under 65 is R95,750, so below that no income tax is due. Above it, tax starts to apply. Take someone earning R110,000 for the year, all in the first bracket taxed at 18%:

• 18% of R110,000 = R19,800 tax before rebates
• Less the primary rebate of R17,235
• = R2,565 tax for the year

That is why being registered and able to file matters once your income crosses the threshold: the system needs you in it to assess and collect the right amount.

Common verification problems

• Details that do not match Home Affairs or the banks. If your name, ID or banking information does not line up with the records SARS cross-checks, verification fails. Fix the source record first, then retry.
• An email or cellphone already linked to another profile. Each contact detail can anchor only one profile. Reusing one tied to an old or duplicate registration blocks the OTP step.
• A profile that already exists. Many people were registered for tax years ago by an employer. If so, you are not creating a new tax number; you are claiming the existing one, which can route you to additional identity checks.

Once you are registered

After your profile is verified you can file returns, check assessments and manage your details in one place. Our guide to reading your IRP5 shows you how to confirm the income and PAYE SARS holds against your own certificate, and the Basic income tax and PAYE calculator lets you work out, on the 2026 tax table, what your assessment should look like before you file. From there, our explainers on SARS auto-assessments and reading your ITA34 cover what happens after you submit.

SARS sources:

• https://www.sars.gov.za/individuals/how-do-i-register-for-tax/register-for-efiling/
• https://www.sars.gov.za/individuals/how-do-i-register-for-tax/
• https://www.sars.gov.za/tax-rates/income-tax/rates-of-tax-for-individuals/