How do I get a SARS certificate? As part of our service to you, Tax Debt Relief provide you with a Tax Clearance Certificate. In order to issue a Tax Clearance Certificate, you cannot have any outstanding debt with SARS, or you need to have an arrangement with SARS that SARS deems acceptable. Once we have helped you with a SARS Debt Compromise or a SARS Installment Payment, you will receive a Tax Clearance Certificate. The tax clearance certificate is the official document issued by SARS to confirm that the applicant has their tax affairs in order. These certificates are not just incredibly important for your everyday business but they are also required by those who are looking to apply for tenders, as the certificate proves that they clear with their taxes when they are trying to bring in foreign investors. The SARS tax clearance certificate is controlled and enforced by the Tax Administration Act which sets out the requirements and time frames associated with the issuing of these certificates. Tax clearance certificates are also known as TCC’s and when they are applied for, specific reasons for the application are a necessity. Each year the certificate will need to be renewed, seeing as it is only valid for one year from the date of issue. Its validity can be removed by SARS should the taxpayer not continue to be compliant with the terms of the certificate. SARS is entitled to withdraw the certificate at any time should it have been issued in error or should fraud or misrepresentation have led to the issuing of the certificate. You don’t have to handle any of this process on your own. Instead, you can enlist the services of a qualified and experienced team, such as ours. We will analyse your situation and be able to determine if you will qualify based on the conditions set out by SARS. Some of these conditions include: The taxpayer seeking a TCC will need to have been registered for income tax before applying for the certificate. There should be no outstanding income tax, VAT, penalties, employee tax or dividend tax. Not sure if you have outstanding tax? We can help. Deferred arrangements that might be made need to be adhered to. All paperwork such as declarations and returns will need to be up to date and in the assessment process at SARS. Every tax number on the document needs to be correct. If you are working with the right tax practitioners, they will have ensured that all of the numbers are right. The details pertaining to the registration need to be the same as those on the system. The easiest and most hassle-free way to get your tax clearance certificate is to use the services that we offer. As a business owner, you will need this certificate at one point or another. There is the good standing certificate and then there is the tender certificate. Be sure of which one you need before you apply. If you are unsure of which certificate you should be applying for, you can always get in touch with our team. To make your life a little easier, we offer to provide you with your SARS tax clearance certificate . Our team will analyse your current tax situation and smooth things over on your behalf, making the way clear for you to get your TCC. Step 1: To activate “My Compliance Profile” on SARS eFiling: 1) Select the “Tax Status” tab from the main menu items at the top of the eFiling page. 2) Select “Activation” to activate the tax compliance status system. 3) The “Tax Compliance Status Service Activation” work page will be displayed and the tax reference number will be pre-populated on the screen. 4) Select the “Tax Compliance Status” check box. Read and accept the “disclaimer” check box and click the “activate” button to proceed with the activation. 5) Once you have activated the “My Compliance Profile” and you have selected all your registered tax reference numbers, you will be given access to your “My Compliance Profile”. 6) If you wish to deactivate the tax compliance status system on your eFiling profile, select the “Tax Compliance Status” tick box and click the “de-activate” button. 7) Taxpayers only need to activate the Tax Compliance Status once. 8) You can view your tax compliance profile by selecting the “My Compliance Profile” menu option. A colour-coded profile will appear to indicate whether you are tax compliant or not. Red will show if you are not tax compliant and green will show if you are tax compliant. If you are not satisfied or do not agree with your tax compliance status, you can motivate why SARS needs to re-evaluate your tax compliance status. This can be done on eFiling by clicking on “Challenge Status” and providing a motivation as to why SARS should re-evaluate your tax compliance status. STEP 2: To request your Tax Compliance Status via eFiling: Once you have accessed your “My Compliance Profile”, you may request your Tax Compliance Status by: 1) Selecting the “Tax Compliance Status Request” option and the type of Tax Compliance Status for which you would like to apply for. You will have the following options: Good standing Tender Foreign Investment Allowance (FIA) (individuals only) Emigration (individuals only) 2) Complete the Tax Compliance Status Request and submit it to SARS. Supporting documents must be attached in respect of FIA and Emigration. 3) Once your request is approved by SARS, you will be issued with an overall Tax Compliance Status and a PIN. The PIN provides you with a way to authorise any third party to view your tax compliance status online via eFiling. You can request that the PIN be sent to you via SMS and you can view it on your “Tax Compliance Status Request” dashboard on your eFiling profile. A unique PIN will be issued for each request that you make. 4) Please note that once you have provided the PIN to a third party, the PIN will enable the relevant third party to view your current tax compliance status online.It will present them with your overall compliance status as at the date and time they check it instead of your status as it was at the date that the PIN was issued to you. To protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information, no other information will be accessible. 5) In addition to the PIN, you will also be able to print a TCC, in the existing format by selecting “Print TCC”. The “Print TCC” function will only be available if your overall tax compliance status reflects as compliant. 6) Please note that not all government institutions and private organisations will be able to utilse the Tax Compliance Status PIN at this stage and in such instances, you must supply a printed TCC. It is envisaged that the PIN will, in time, replace the paper TCC. Please contact us if you require any assistance activating your “My Compliance Status” or requesting for your Tax Compliance Status. Sdudzo Mhlongo is a candidate attorney at the tax department at ENSafrica. Reviewed by Arnaaz Carmay, executive at ENSafrica’s tax department.