What is an ITA34? Reading your SARS assessment

An ITA34 is your SARS notice of assessment: the document that tells you, for a specific tax year, whether you owe SARS money or are due a refund, and by when any amount is payable. SARS issues it after your return is assessed, and you find it on eFiling or the SARS MobiApp. The figure to look for is the net amount: a positive amount payable means you owe, a refund amount means SARS owes you.

It is the result of the assessment, not a bill out of nowhere. Read top to bottom, it shows how SARS arrived at the number.

The lines that matter

When you open the ITA34, work down it in this order:

• The tax year. Confirm which year of assessment the notice covers, because you can be assessed for more than one year and the figures differ.
• The net amount. This is the headline: the net amount payable by you, or the net amount refundable to you, after your tax for the year is compared with the PAYE and provisional tax already paid.
• The due date. If you owe, the date by which to pay appears on the notice. For taxpayers who file a normal return, payment is generally due within 30 days of the assessment. For auto-assessed taxpayers the due date is set with reference to the close of filing season.
• Selected for verification or audit. The notice tells you whether SARS wants supporting documents. If it does, a refund is held until that is resolved.
• Your account number and reference. Use these exact references when you pay, so the payment lands against the right assessment.

How the net amount is built

The net amount is the difference between the tax you owe for the year and what has already been paid on your behalf. Take someone with taxable income of R500,000 for the 2026 year of assessment. The tax falls in the third bracket (R370,501 to R512,800), so it is R77,362 plus 31% of the amount above R370,500:

• R500,000 less R370,500 = R129,500
• 31% of R129,500 = R40,145
• R77,362 + R40,145 = R117,507
• Less the primary rebate of R17,235 = R100,272 tax for the year

If the IRP5 shows R105,000 of PAYE was withheld, the ITA34 reports a net amount refundable of R105,000 less R100,272 = R4,728. Had only R96,000 been withheld, the same arithmetic would show R4,272 payable instead. The ITA34 shows the outcome; this is the calculation behind it.

ITA34 versus statement of account

These are two different documents and people often confuse them. The ITA34 is the assessment for a single tax year: what that year's return came to. The statement of account (SOA) is a running ledger across periods, showing assessments, payments, penalties, interest and the current balance on your account. If you want to know "what did this year's return decide", read the ITA34. If you want "what is my overall balance with SARS right now", read the SOA.

Check the assessment for yourself

The most useful thing you can do with an ITA34 is confirm the number is right. Our Basic income tax and PAYE calculator recomputes your tax on the 2026 SARS table and rebate and compares it with the PAYE withheld, so you can check the net amount against your own working. Our guide to reading your IRP5 shows where the income and PAYE on the assessment come from, and our explainers on why a refund can be delayed and SARS auto-assessments cover what happens once the ITA34 is issued.

SARS sources:

• https://www.sars.gov.za/faq/faq-where-do-i-find-my-notice-of-assessment-ita34-to-see-if-i-owe-sars-money/
• https://www.sars.gov.za/faq/what-is-the-difference-between-the-ita34-and-the-soa/
• https://www.sars.gov.za/faq/faq-by-when-should-i-pay-sars-if-i-owe-money-on-my-return/
• https://www.sars.gov.za/tax-rates/income-tax/rates-of-tax-for-individuals/