South Africa has been rated amongst the most tax-compliant countries in the world, mainly due to the past efficiency of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) in administering an increasingly complex tax regime.

However, South Africans are starting to question whether they should continue to comply, mainly due to questions relating to the legitimacy of the state, continued perceived and real squandering of tax money and concerns about technical and administrative capacity at Sars.

Each year Sars launches its “tax filing season”, reminding South Africans to honour the social contract between themselves as citizens and the state. The citizens pay their fair share of taxes in exchange for efficient and reliable services provided by their government.

The tax season started in July and to date more than 1.2m tax returns have been received – slightly less than during the same time last year. Approximately 6.6m individuals are expected to file their tax returns during this tax season, which ends on 31 January next year.

This year significant changes to individuals’ income tax returns initially caused confusion and there were a number of errors in the system.

According to Sars, errors on submitted tax returns include not completing new fields on this year’s return relating to retirement fund contributions and the incorrect declaration of medical expenses, or other expenses. Taxpayers have also neglected to provide supporting documentation to substantiate expenses and claims, says Sars.

Chérie Carstens-Petersen, team leader of technical operations at the South African Institute of Tax Professionals, says it has been the worst start to a filing season in years. However, Sars has been receptive in trying to address the errors.