Filing income tax forms

I am bit clueless about the tax system in South Africa. Tax year does not correspond to calender year which makes it difficult to know what to expect and when.

SARS is the South African Revenue Service that handles all taxes. Last year I managed to file the income tax forms in time. This year the forms did not arrive by post. At least I have not seen them. The deadline for submitting them was some time in December 2008 but the new eFiling system, meaning doing it online, deadline was pushed forwards and is now at 5th February 2008.

All doable online! Then it surely can be done in a few minutes. First you have to register for iFiling, but that too can be done online. The online form contains a couple of dozen fields which meant some typing and there were detailed requirements for a password that took a while to get right. Should have been easy, but the form kept coming back to me complaining that some unspecified particulars could not be found and that I might need to contact the service centre.

I finally did call the service center. SARS did not have my passport number that in this country is for forigners same as the ID number. I was told to send a copy to SARS and they will update my details. I could do that by email immediately.

Fast forward half a month later. The passport details still had not been added to the SARS system and the call center tells you that you are queuing at number 228 for assistance. Clearly, the deadline is approaching and the case is going nowhere.

This morning, instead of driving to work, I entered the SARS office at Bellville. I was a bit nervous on how my case can be solved. I was there at 7.30 and entered the queue through the security check. Next I queued for a few minutes at the reception to be told where to go. "To your left and take the lift to level zero. They will be able assist you there." I certainly hoped so.

The basement had a dozen tables with computers along walls and four rows of plastic stairs in the middle. Most of the tables were manned by SARS employers and three rows were filled with people with envelopes in there hands.

The chairs let the queing people to rest but also gave us excersise. When people left from the top of the queue, everyone moved up on the chairs - most of the time with a delay. We agreed that this gave us more excersise that most of us do on a normal day.

A curious thing was that people at the top of the queue sat down, too, although by doing so they could not scan all the desks from where they were sitting. The SARS emloyees would either walk to the person asking them to come or call from their desk: "Next!" That tended to vanish in the hubub of the basement full of people, but it did not matter. A multiple echo with ever increasing volume emanating from the patiently queing fellow sufferers would quicky alert the slacker.

In an hour I was at the top of the queue. I stood up to be ready to go when needed. However, the first free desk was behind the queue that by now included two rows standing up and the "next, next" called helped my find it.

I explaned my situation to the lady at the desk. She asked if would like to do the filing here or take the forms with me. My case was simple: salary from the University and medical insurance costs for the whole family. Both institutes had filled their forms electronically for me and I had the printouts. While the she tapped the keys with a blinding speed, she expressed her amazament that I live so far from the university and explained that filling these forms is quite easy once you get the training. She was now qualified but had failed the exam twice.

She really was qualified. In three minutes, she had filled the forms on her computer, printed them and handed them to me for signing. That was all and it was all done. Now that is service!

Now I just have to wait for my passport number to be added to the system, hopefully before the end of the next tax year!