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When is my VAT return due?
Pick how often you file and we will work out every submission and payment date ahead of you, including the ones that shift because they land on a weekend or a public holiday. Nothing you choose is sent to us or stored.
Your dates ahead
| VAT period | Period ends | Return & payment due |
|---|
Keep a copy
A one-page PDF of your figures and the result.
Your figures are used only to make the PDF. We don't keep them.
Or never work this out again
Vali knows your VAT period, keeps your input and output VAT separated as you invoice and capture bills, and has the VAT201 figures ready when the period closes — so the deadline stops being something you have to remember and start adding up for.
Also free: the VAT calculator — add VAT to a price, or strip it out of one.
How the deadlines work
Filing on eFiling buys you the rest of the month. If you both submit on eFiling and pay electronically, your return and payment are due on the last business day of the month following the end of your tax period. Do it any other way and the deadline is the 25th of that month — so eFiling is worth several days of breathing room every period.
Deadlines never move forward, only back. Where the due date is not a business day, it becomes the business day before it — never the one after. A deadline landing on a Sunday means the Friday, not the Monday. This catches people out over Easter and in December, when several holidays fall close together.
The period end is not the deadline. Your tax period ends on the last day of the month; the return and the money are due the following month. The table above shows both, so the two do not get confused.
Which category am I?
Most businesses are in Category A or B, filing every two months — SARS decides which of the two so the load is spread across the year. You move to Category C, filing monthly, once your taxable turnover passes R30 million in any twelve months, or if you ask to, or if SARS puts you there for repeatedly missing your obligations. Category D, every six months, is mainly for farming businesses under R1.5 million. Category E, once a year, is for certain companies and trusts letting property or administering connected businesses.
Categories D and E can end in months other than the standard ones if SARS has approved a written application, which is why you can pick your own year end above.
Where these rules come from: the tax period categories and due dates are SARS's published rules for VAT vendors; the public holidays are those set by the Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994, with Good Friday and Family Day calculated from Easter each year. Public holidays declared on an ad-hoc basis, such as a national election day, are not included. This is a planning aid, not tax advice — check anything that matters against your own VAT registration and with SARS or your accountant.
VAT deadline questions answered
01 Is the payment due on the same day as the return?
Yes. The VAT you owe must reach SARS by the same deadline as the return. An EFT made on the due date can clear a day late, so pay a day or two early.
02 What happens if I miss the deadline?
SARS charges a 10% late-payment penalty on the VAT owed plus interest for every month it stays unpaid, and can add administrative penalties for a late return. Filing on time and paying late still attracts the penalty.
03 Do I still file if there is nothing to declare?
Yes. A registered vendor must submit a return for every tax period, even a nil return, by the same deadline.
04 What if my return is a refund?
Submit it by the same deadline. SARS aims to pay a refund within 21 business days of receiving a valid return, longer if the return is picked for verification, so keep the tax invoices behind every claim to hand.
05 Is anything I enter stored?
No. The checker runs entirely in your browser and nothing is sent to us.
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