By Chris Herbst, Chartered Business Accountant in Practice (CBAP) with CIBA, General Tax Practitioner (GTP) with SAIT, Stellenbosch University. Team registered with SAIT, SAIPA and CIBA.
A letter from SARS asking for supporting documents is one of the most common pieces of SARS correspondence an individual taxpayer receives, and it usually lands just as a refund was expected. The documents themselves are covered in our guide to SARS verification and supporting documents. This guide covers the other half of the problem: the legal power behind the letter, who is allowed to answer it for you, how to give that person access, and what happens once the material is with SARS.
What Is a SARS Section 46 Letter?
A section 46 letter is a request for relevant material issued under section 46 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011. Section 46(1) allows SARS to require a taxpayer, or another person, to submit relevant material that SARS requires for the administration of a tax Act, within a reasonable period. SARS uses the term "relevant material" for what most people call supporting documents.
Why does SARS call it relevant material?
The Act uses "relevant material" because the request is not limited to paper documents. It covers any information, document or thing that SARS needs to check your return, and section 46(1) says it may be submitted orally or in writing. In practice, for an ITR12, it means certificates, statements, invoices, logbooks and calculations.
Why was I selected?
Section 40 of the Act allows SARS to select a person for inspection, verification or audit on any consideration relevant to the proper administration of a tax Act, including on a random or a risk assessment basis. The SARS page on being audited or selected for verification states that SARS can verify any taxpayer. Selection is not a finding that your return is wrong.
Is a verification letter the same as an audit?
No. SARS treats verification and audit as separate processes. Verification checks the information in your return against third-party data and your supporting documents. An audit is a wider examination of your records, and SARS states that it begins only when you receive a Notification of Audit letter allocating your case to a specific auditor.
What Does Section 46 Require of You?
Section 46(4) requires the person who receives the request to submit the relevant material at the place and within the time specified in the request. The letter itself is therefore the rulebook for your response: it names the documents, the channel and the due date.
- 46(1): What it says: SARS may require relevant material; What it means for you: You must respond
- 46(4): What it says: Submit at the place and time stated; What it means for you: Follow the letter's due date
- 46(5): What it says: Period may be extended on good cause; What it means for you: Ask early, with reasons
- 46(6): What it says: Material must be reasonably specific; What it means for you: Send what is listed
- 46(7): What it says: Oath may be directed; What it means for you: Some answers are sworn
Must SARS say exactly what it wants?
Yes. Section 46(6) requires the relevant material to be referred to in the request with reasonable specificity. A letter that lists "IRP5, medical aid certificate and RA certificate" tells you exactly what to send. Answer the list, item by item, rather than uploading everything you own.
Can SARS ask my bank or employer instead of me?
Yes. Section 46(1) covers "the taxpayer or another person", and section 46(3) limits a request to a third party to the records that person keeps, or should reasonably keep, about you. This is why SARS already holds much of your data before it writes to you.
Can SARS call me in for an interview?
Section 47 allows a senior SARS official to require a person to attend an interview in person, where the interview is meant to clarify issues so that further verification or audit is unnecessary. The Act lets you decline if the distance to the designated place exceeds the distance the Commissioner has prescribed by public notice.
Who Can Respond to a Section 46 Letter for You?
You can respond yourself, or a registered tax practitioner can respond on your behalf once you authorise them on eFiling. Section 240 of the Tax Administration Act requires every natural person who gives tax advice, or completes or helps to complete a document submitted to SARS for another person, to register with SARS as a tax practitioner.
Does the practitioner have to be registered with SARS?
Yes, where they charge for the work. Section 240(1) requires registration within 30 days of first giving the advice or completing the document, and section 234(c) makes a wilful failure to register a criminal offence. Our guide to section 240 and tax practitioner registration explains the recognised controlling bodies a registered practitioner belongs to.
Can a friend or family member help me for free?
Section 240(2)(a) excludes a person who helps solely for no consideration, so a family member who assists without payment does not need to register. The eFiling route that lets another person act on your profile, however, is the tax practitioner portfolio, which SARS describes for registered practitioners. Never hand over your own eFiling login and password.
How do I check that a practitioner is registered?
The SARS tax practitioners page states that it is in the interest of taxpayers to use registered tax practitioners, and directs taxpayers to the SARS online database to check whether a practitioner is registered. Ask for the practitioner's PR number and the controlling body they belong to before you authorise access.
How Do You Give a Tax Practitioner eFiling Access?
You authorise access yourself with a one-time PIN. SARS sets out the process in its guide on adding clients to a tax practitioner's eFiling profile: the practitioner requests your tax types, and you approve the request.
- The practitioner captures your details. They register you on their Tax Practitioner Portfolio and request the income tax type, which then shows as "Awaiting authorisation".
- You open the Tax Type Transfer link. The practitioner sends you the SARS Tax Type Transfer and Shared Access Request page, where you answer the citizenship and demographic questions.
- You approve with an OTP. SARS sends a one-time PIN to your email address or cellphone number, and you capture it on the Approve Online Request screen.
- You authorise the tax types. SARS issues a power of attorney, and you select Authorise next to each tax type the practitioner should manage.
Does the practitioner see everything on my profile?
The practitioner sees the tax types you authorise. For a verification on your ITR12 that is income tax, which includes the return, the letter and the supporting documents link. Our guide to appointing a tax practitioner for your ITR12 covers the authorisation in more detail.
What if my cellphone number on eFiling is out of date?
The OTP goes to the email address or cellphone number SARS holds for you. Update your contact details first, otherwise you cannot approve the request.
How Do You Submit the Relevant Material on eFiling?
You upload the material on the return's own work page and then click Submit to SARS. The SARS FAQ on uploading supporting documents sets out the screens in order.
- Open Returns History. Log in to eFiling, select Returns, then Returns History, then the tax type (ITR12).
- Open the return SARS asked about. Click Open on the far right of the return named in the letter to open the work page.
- Use the Supporting Documents link. Scroll down on the work page and click the link under Supporting Documents, then Browse to select each file.
- Upload, then check. Click Upload and confirm each file appears on the work page with the right name.
- Submit to SARS once. Click Submit to SARS only when every listed item is uploaded.
Can I upload over more than one day?
Yes. The SARS FAQ states that you can upload up to 20 files in a session without submitting, return the next day to upload more, and submit only once everything is there. After you submit, the link closes, and a new link opens only if SARS issues another request.
Which file formats does SARS accept?
SARS lists .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .jpg and .gif, with a maximum of 5 MB per document and up to 20 documents. Combine related pages into one PDF so a single item on the letter maps to a single file.
What if I am not on eFiling?
SARS accepts relevant material through the SARS Online Query System or at a branch by appointment. In both cases include your verification letter, because SARS states that its barcode links the material to your tax records.
What Happens After You Submit?
SARS states that it will attempt to verify your information within 21 business days after you upload the requested documents, and that it can ask for more information during that period. A refund due to you is paid only after verification is complete.
What are the possible outcomes?
According to the SARS verification page there are three. Where SARS finds no issue, it notifies you that the verification is complete. Where it finds a discrepancy, it issues a revised assessment. Where it sees financial risk, it issues a Referral for Audit letter and the return moves to audit.
How do I follow progress?
SARS launched a Tax Return Status Dashboard on the SARS Online Query System, which shows the progress of a personal income tax return through submission, verification or audit, and refund, as the SARS registered representatives page announces. Check it before phoning the contact centre.
What if I disagree with the revised assessment?
You dispute it by objection under section 104 of the Tax Administration Act, as the SARS verification page directs. The steps on eFiling are the same as those in our guide to disputing a SARS assessment.
What changes if the case becomes an audit?
Section 42 then applies. It requires SARS to report on the stage of completion of the audit and, where the audit identifies material adjustments, to give you a document with the grounds for the proposed assessment within 21 business days of concluding it. Our guide to handling a SARS audit covers that stage.
What If You Miss the Date in the Letter?
SARS states that if you do not upload the documents or file a Request for Correction, it sends a second letter, and if you still do not respond by the deadline, it issues a revised assessment based on the information it has. That assessment usually disallows the deductions you could not support.
Can I ask SARS for more time?
Yes. Section 46(5) allows SARS to extend the period for submitting relevant material on good cause shown. Ask before the due date, in writing, and give the reason, for example a certificate the issuer has not yet sent.
Is ignoring the letter a criminal offence?
Section 234(h) of the Act makes it an offence to wilfully and without just cause refuse or neglect to furnish any information or document as and when required under the Act. On conviction the Act provides for a fine or imprisonment of up to two years. Separately, SARS states that an understatement penalty can be up to 200% of the shortfall.
Should I file a Request for Correction instead?
The SARS verification letter offers two routes: submit the documents, or submit a Request for Correction if you want to change your original declaration. Use the correction route when you have found an error in your own return, such as a deduction you cannot support or income you left out.
Common Mistakes When Responding to a Section 46 Letter
Most verifications that go wrong do so because of how the response was put together, not because the return was wrong. These are the mistakes we see most often.
- Submitting too early. Clicking Submit to SARS before every item is uploaded closes the link, and SARS then assesses on an incomplete file.
- Uploading the wrong year. The letter names a year of assessment. A medical aid certificate for the wrong year is treated as missing.
- Sending unlabelled files. A file called "scan001" forces the verifier to guess. Name each file after the item on the letter.
- Sharing your eFiling password. Authorise a registered practitioner with the OTP process instead, so access can be traced and withdrawn.
- Waiting for the second letter. The second letter is the last step before a revised assessment.
- Trusting a link in an email. Log in to eFiling directly and confirm that the supporting documents link is open on the return, because SARS opens that link only once it has sent you the letter.
Which documents cause the most trouble?
Deductions without a third-party certificate: travel claims without a logbook, home office expenses, and medical expenses not covered by the medical scheme. Our checklist of documents needed to file your tax return lists the certificate behind each common deduction, and our guide to the red flags that trigger SARS audits explains why these items are selected.
What if I hold crypto assets?
Crypto disposals and staking income are verified like any other income, and SARS asks for the transaction history behind the figures declared. Our guide on declaring crypto on your ITR12 shows where those figures sit on the return.
Do You Need Help With a Section 46 Letter?
We respond to SARS verification requests for individuals as registered tax practitioners: we read the letter, collect and label the relevant material, upload it on your behalf after you authorise us on eFiling, and follow the case through to the outcome. See our personal tax pricing for the fixed fees, browse more SARS compliance guides, or contact us with your letter and we will tell you what it needs.
