New Tax status Compliance Pin application process

what is it, what is it for and who is it for?

At Procon Business Consultants we offer online bookkeeping services, taxation consulting, payroll administration and business consulting services. We are an accounting firm based in Johannesburg. We strive to share knowledge with our clients so that they can get a better understanding of what the tax authorities want. This makes it easier for them to plan.

The purpose of a tax compliance status is to make sure that you are correctly registered with SARS and that you are up to date with all your tax affairs.

Inorder for you to be regarded as being compliant by SARS they look at your overall status in terms of the 3 elements which are:

Registration

For your registration to be up to date they will want to confirm banking details, business address and they also consider the tax products that you are liable to register for. So make sure you are registered for the correct product with SARS and your registration information is up to date.

The submission of returns

All the tax returns for the different tax types you are registered for, that are due, should have been filed.

Outstanding debt

If you owe SARS make the payment or make a payment plan/arrangement. If you do not agree with the amount that you owe you have an option of following the SARS dispute process, you could be owing them because of assessed tax on different products you have been registered for or it could be because of administrative penalties. Make sure you are able to navigate your way around your compliance profile on e-filing to see where the debt is coming from.

Tax compliance status is issued via SMS and letter, it shows real-time compliance and has replaced the tax clearance certificate system which used to be printed on paper and was valid for 12months.

How to get a tax compliance certificate

Via SARS e-filing

Log into the company’s SARS e-filing account, click on the tax status tab then click on tax compliance status. The tab will drop down and select the option titled “my compliance profile”, it will show you a list of the aforementioned elements which must be highlighted “complaint” in green. If the system shows you that you are non-compliant with any one of the elements and you do no agreed with that use the option at the bottom to challenge the status. If all is well click on the next tab titled “tax compliance status request” and select the compliance request type either tender or good standing, your selection will differ depending on what you want to use the compliance status for.

You will be redirected to a page where need to fill in the company’s details and authorised representative’s details, once you are done click submit and click continue. You will be redirected once again back to the tax compliance status request tab, there is an option titled “status of existing requests” with two options titled “tender” and “good standing” respectively. Select your option depending on which one you requested for initially and a list of all the compliance request for your selection will appear. Select the current requested date and click “Print Pin”.

Via SARS online query system (SOQS)

Go online on the SARS website, click contact us, click send us a query, select the option titled tax compliance status request. You will be redirected to a page titled “Tax Compliance system”, fill in the required details and click generate form. This method has limited functionality as it doesn’t display the elements of compliance.

Tax compliance verification

The verification of tax compliance can only be used by third parties who want to verify your status as SMME. For the third party to be able to use this functionality they need to make sure that they have the correct rights on e-filing and that they have activated the tax compliance verification. It is also crucial that you don’t give your tax compliance pin to just anyone. The third party will only be able to view your overall tax compliance status nothing more.

NB: having a tax compliance pin or letter doesn’t mean that you are compliant, if you are non-compliant you apply for a tax compliance status pin, the system will give you a pin but remember you are not compliant, if you are going to take that pin and give it to a third party who is going to verify your tax compliance status you will not be able to pass the validations of being compliant which defeats the whole purpose.