And more importantly…am I one?
When it comes to individual taxpayers, the ins and outs can be confusing. When do I pay? What category do I fall into? What is a provisional and non-provisional taxpayer? These questions can bog us down until we are too scared to even whisper the dreaded ‘T’ word. The answers, however, are pretty simple.
Here is the difference between a provisional and non-provisional taxpayer and what that means for you and your tax return.
Non-provisional taxpayer
This category is probably the easiest to understand. A non-provisional taxpayer is any individual who gets a salary, has PAYE deducted from their monthly earnings, and does not have any additional income over and above their regular salary/income. What this means for tax returns is that non-provisional taxpayers only need to do a tax return once a year, by mid-October.
Provisional taxpayer
A provisional taxpayer, on the other and slightly more confusing hand, is someone who receives any income over and above their normal salary. This could be rental income, ad hoc income, dividends, or interest above R30 000 per year. This means is that in order not to pay a large amount of money when submitting the yearly tax return, the individual submits two additional tax returns, one in February and the other in August. Provisional taxpayers can submit and process these returns on the eFilling website portal, as with the yearly October return.
Back to the basics
In a financial nutshell – if you earn a salary every month and nothing over and above that (or you earn interest, but it is lower than R30 000 per year), you are a non-provisional taxpayer and you submit a return once a year. If you earn anything in addition to your normal salary that equates to more than R30 000, you are a provisional taxpayer and you need to submit a return in February, August, and October.
If you have any questions, need help understanding the ins and outs of tax, or are looking to have someone else handle your taxes entirely, contact us at info@smithandrossi.com, via our website, or on social media.