How can I check if SARS owes me money?

You will need to register for SARS Efilling.to complete and submit your annual tax return to see if SARS owes you a refund.  Taxpayers only receive a tax refund if they paid too much tax during the tax year (1 March to 28 February) It is important to submit your tax return even if you earn below the threshold.

Hundreds of thousands of South Africans are filing their annual tax returns and everyday people ask us “when will I get my refund from SARS?”.

While we’re not involved in the payments of tax refunds, we can provide a little insight into the SARS processes and timelines.

Once you’ve completed and submitted your annual tax return (called the ITR12,, SARS will issue a document called the ITA34. You will receive an email and / or SMS advising you to log onto your eFiling profile and navigate to the notices section to view documents. On the first page of the ITA34 you will see whether you owe SARS money, or if they will issue you with a refund. Hint: A minus sign in front of the amount means you’ve been assessed as being owed a refund.

If you’re a TaxTim user, you won’t have as much work to do. We’ll send you and email to let you know the outcome of your annual tax return, whether it be a refund or if you owe SARS a further payment.

If you’re owed a refund, this will be electronically processed and usually reflects in your bank account within 2 – 3 days of the ITA34 being issued.