Pravin Gordhan

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) launched its Help-You-eFile earlier this month, which aims to help taxpayers file returns online.

Now, taxpayers who are unsure how to use eFiling, or who get stuck while completing their returns online, can make use of the Help-You-eFile service. The facility allows them to be in direct contact with a SARS call centre agent while they complete their tax return online.

The initiative is part of five new technologies SARS unveiled in July as it ushered in the 2012 tax season. So far, SARS has received 2.3 million tax returns since the tax season started at the beginning of July.

By the same time last year, 1.5 million returns had been filed. The unintended consequence has been that queues at branches have been much longer than during previous years, as branches are seeing 55% more taxpayers than the same period last year.

Last year, a record 4.86 million people and trusts submitted returns on time, of which 99% were filed electronically, either with assistance at a SARS branch or by taxpayers or their intermediaries through eFiling.

Finance minister Pravin Gordhan" rel=tag>Pravin Gordhan said in July that the increased use of technology enabled SARS to process 98% of all returns within 24 hours. The taxman paid R11.9 billion in refunds to taxpayers last year, 85% of which was paid in three days.