Check your SARS auto-assessment before you accept it

Between 1 and 12 July 2026, SARS is sending auto-assessment notices by SMS and email. Before you accept yours, check five things: banking details, that every employer's IRP5 is present, that your medical scheme details are complete, that no income is missing, and that every deduction you are entitled to appears. If the assessment is right, you do nothing and it stands. If it is wrong or incomplete, you file a corrected return on eFiling or the SARS MobiApp by 23 October 2026.

Why the check is worth ten minutes

SARS builds an auto-assessment from third-party data: IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates from employers, interest certificates from banks, and contribution records from medical schemes and retirement funds. For a straightforward salary earner the result is usually close. The blind spot is structural: SARS can only assess what was reported to it. Income nobody reported (rental, freelance work, a crypto disposal) and deductions nobody reported (a retirement annuity you pay directly, a home office, a section 18A donation) are absent, and their absence is invisible unless you look.

If you do nothing, the auto-assessment becomes your official assessment: fine when it is correct, an under-declaration when it is not. The responsibility for a complete return stays with you either way. Our explainer on how auto-assessment works covers the mechanics; this guide is the check itself.

The ten-minute check

1. Open the assessment, not just the SMS. The notification only tells you an assessment exists. The detail is in the ITA34 on eFiling or the SARS MobiApp: the income SARS used, the deductions and credits it applied, and the outcome, a refund or an amount owing. If you cannot find it, the SARS Online Query System has a "My Auto Assessment Status" option. Our ITA34 explainer walks through the document.

2. Confirm your banking details. A refund is paid to the account SARS has on file. A closed or outdated account is the most common reason a refund never arrives; fixing details after the fact is slower than checking now.

3. Check that every employer is there. Compare the employment income and PAYE on the assessment against your final payslip or IRP5 certificate. If you changed jobs during the year, you should see one certificate per employer; a missing one understates both your income and the tax you already paid. How to read your IRP5 decodes the source codes.

4. Check the medical numbers. Your dependant count drives the section 6A medical credit: for the 2026 year of assessment it is R364 per month for the main member, R364 for the first dependant and R246 for each additional dependant. A wrong count means a wrong credit. Qualifying out-of-pocket medical costs are also worth a look: SARS was never told about them.

5. Look for income SARS cannot see. Rental income, freelance or side income, and most foreign income do not arrive as third-party data. If any of it is missing, do not accept the assessment: you remain liable for the tax on it, and the gap is yours to fix. Bank interest usually is reported, but check the figure; only interest above the annual exemption is taxable. Side income has its own rules, set out in our freelancer and side-income guide.

6. Look for deductions SARS may not have. A retirement annuity you pay directly, rather than through payroll, sometimes reaches SARS late or not at all. Section 18A donation receipts, home-office costs and a travel logbook against a travel allowance are in the same category: real deductions SARS cannot apply unless they are in the return.

What one missing line is worth

Take Naledi. Her auto-assessment shows taxable income of R420,000 for the 2026 year, but it is missing the R30,000 she paid into a retirement annuity from her own bank account. The contribution is deductible: section 11F allows 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, capped at R350,000 a year, and neither limit binds here (27.5% of R420,000 is R115,500).

On R420,000, tax before rebates falls in the third bracket: R77,362 plus 31% of the amount above R370,500.

R420,000 less R370,500 = R49,500
31% of R49,500 = R15,345
R77,362 + R15,345 = R92,707
Less the primary rebate of R17,235 = R75,472

With the deduction, taxable income drops to R390,000:

R390,000 less R370,500 = R19,500
31% of R19,500 = R6,045
R77,362 + R6,045 = R83,407
Less the primary rebate of R17,235 = R66,172

Accepting the auto-assessment as sent would cost her R9,300, which is exactly her marginal rate of 31% on the missing R30,000. Filing the corrected return recovers it.

If it is right: do nothing

There is nothing to click and nothing to sign. The assessment stands, and a refund of more than R100 is paid automatically within 72 hours, provided your banking details are correct, nothing is outstanding on your account, and no verification or audit is required or in progress. A smaller refund is added to your account and paid out once the balance exceeds R100. If yours has not arrived, our article on why a SARS refund gets delayed lists the usual causes.

If it is wrong: correct it by 23 October

Filing opens on 13 July 2026. From then, log in to eFiling or the MobiApp, open the pre-populated return, correct or complete it, and submit. SARS issues a fresh assessment on your figures. The deadline for non-provisional taxpayers is 23 October 2026; provisional taxpayers have until 22 January 2027. If the assessment shows an amount owing, the due date is on the ITA34 and interest accrues on unpaid balances, so act on a disputed figure rather than letting it sit.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I see the data SARS used for my auto-assessment? On eFiling, the pre-populated return shows the third-party certificates SARS holds: your IRP5 or IT3(a) from each employer, medical scheme contributions and retirement fund records. Compare those against the certificates you were issued; a mismatch is a conversation with the issuer, not just with SARS.

Does a refund require me to accept the assessment first? No. There is no accept button in the 2026 process. If you take no action, the assessment stands, and a refund of more than R100 is paid automatically within 72 hours where your banking details are correct and nothing else is outstanding.

What if I only find a mistake after 23 October 2026? The auto-assessment stands as your assessment, and fixing it becomes harder: you are into request-for-correction or dispute territory, with time limits and possible penalties for under-declared income. Our article on the SARS request for correction covers that route.

Is the auto-assessment ever wrong on the tax calculation itself? Rarely. The arithmetic is mechanical; the inputs are what go wrong. Recompute your position from your own records rather than re-adding SARS's numbers: if your figure and theirs differ, the difference points at a missing or wrong input.

Recompute it before you decide

Before you accept or correct, it helps to know what the answer should be. The free tax calculator runs your full position on your own device, no account needed, and shows every step of the working to the cent, so you can put the number SARS sent you next to the number your records produce.

SARS sources:

Information correct for the 2026 filing season (year of assessment 1 March 2025 – 28 February 2026). This is general guidance, not tax advice for your specific circumstances.