As tax season kicks off, tax practitioners have advised farmers, especially smallholders, to ensure they are in good standing with the South African Revenue Service (SARS). It has an advantage when seeking to do business with bigger entities and the government.
Sibo Molo from Molo Consulting, a tax and accounting firm in Klerksdorp, North West, said being tax compliant is critical for any company and can unlock many business opportunities and funding.
“To start with, for one to be able to access a lot of government support, incentives, you have to be tax compliant. And even when doing business with government or private sector, or banks, this is a requirement. So there is really no running away from it.
“Being tax compliant is just ensuring that the South African Revenue Service returns or tax obligations (payment) are complied with. This is also a responsible thing that any business owner should be doing,” he said.
Keep record of operations
Molo cautioned farmers that SARS would come after those who are not compliant, and that could even lead to criminal charges.
“It is not helpful to avoid paying tax, as you are also missing out on a lot of support from government.
“Importantly for us to understand is that government uses the very same tax money to provide for us and communities. Important service delivery initiatives such as building hospitals, roads, schools and ensuring that as a country we are safe, and maintain the infrastructure farmers use on a daily basis to move from their farmers to markets or silos,” he said.
Molo encouraged farmers to get professional advice before they start and keep a good record of income and expenses, bank statements, and stock.”Educate yourself or get qualified advice so you can reduce your tax liability.
“Everything is electronic these days, and SARS gets a summary each year of every bank account you have, showing each month’s total credits and debits for the tax year,” he said.
The South African Revenue Service released a statement, saying that auto assessment will start from 7 to 20 July 2025.
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“SARS has started to issue auto assessments to taxpayers whose tax affairs are less complicated. If taxpayers agree with their auto assessment, no further action is required from them. Acceptance is automatic, so taxpayers need not manually accept the auto assessment.
“The filing period for non-provisional taxpayers is from 21 July to 20 October 2025. Provisional taxpayers’ filing window will close on 19 January 2026,” the statement said.
Beware of scammers
The revenue service has urged taxpayers to be extremely careful and keep their details confidential.
“In the run-up to filing season, there will be many attempts from scammers to defraud taxpayers. Scammers can present themselves as SARS officials to steal taxpayers’ personal details, make them click on links, or pay money into an account.
“SARS will never ask taxpayers to use any link. Taxpayers must protect their e-filing login details and use only registered tax practitioners,” the statement advised.
Limpopo macadamia farmer Maumela Lutendo said, although she is not keen to pay tax because of corruption that happens in the country, she has started making efforts to get in touch with the revenue service to pay her taxes.
“I am just working on approaching SARS and getting to know how it all works,” she said.
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