SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter presented his plans for the 2019 tax season on Tuesday morning (4 June), including the announcement that taxpayers earning below R500,000 are now no longer required to submit returns.

This is an increase from the previous threshold of R350,000. However, SARS said that taxpayers still need to meet the following criteria:

Your total employment income for the year before tax is not more than R500,000;

You only receive employment income from one employer for the full tax year;

You have no other form of income, such as car allowance, business income, rental income, taxable interest or income from another job; and

You don’t have any additional allowable tax related deductions to claim, such as medical expenses, retirement annuity contributions and travel expenses.

Kieswetter said that the tax season will officially start on 1 August for all taxpayers, while digital platforms will be available for e-filing from 1 July.

He added that the taxman would be especially hard on those that miss their payment deadlines.

“We continue to encourage taxpayers to convert to online filing. This makes the submission of returns simpler and convenient but also facilitates our overall objective of improving voluntary compliance.”

WATCH: Kieswetter announces that taxpayers earning below R500 000 are now no longer required to submit returns. This is an increase from the previous threshold of R350 000 pic.twitter.com/qO50CR1lsY — SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) June 4, 2019

Read: Everything you’ll ever need to know about death and taxes in South Africa