Ahead of tax filing season, Xero, the global small business platform, has launched VAT eFiling in South Africa to speed up the process of filing taxes for SMEs and save them time.
VAT eFiling is live now and is being rolled out to all South African users in the coming weeks. This means that they will be able to submit their VAT returns to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) from within the Xero platform.
VAT eFiling is part of Xero’s suite of cloud tax tools aimed at making VAT Digitalin South Africa including the VAT Return Form and VAT Late Claims functionality and is the first end-to-end VAT solution in South Africa. This means small businesses and their accountants and bookkeepers can now prepare, store and eFile VAT returns to SARS in just a few clicks – saving them time and helping to boost compliance.
New technology like Xero’s VAT eFiling to SARS means it’s quick and simple for small businesses and accountants to eFile as they enter tax filing season in July. These new tools support the government’s drive to modernise the tax system and increase the use of digital services – which are important steps in expanding the tax payer base. Growing the tax payer base is a key step in the long-term development of South Africa’s economy.
New technology like Xero’s VAT eFiling to SARS means it’s quick and simple to eFile as small businesses and accountants start tax season this July.
Colin Timmis, Xero South Africa Country Manager said: “This is a big step forward for the industry and towards our aim to make VAT digital in South Africa. We’ve been working hard to drive innovation that supports small business health. From launching South Africa’s first digital bank feed that allows the automated flow of business transactions into accounting software, being able to snap receipts and upload the information from anywhere using Hubdoc, to taking all this information to seamlessly collate and eFile VAT returns.
All of these tools are working together to help make life better for business and create a healthier economy for our country.”
Nicole Rousseau, Head of PKF Ignite said: “We’ve been trialling Xero’s eFiling to SARS feature for a few months now. New technology like this means a manual process, which used to have multiple steps and could be error prone, is now quick and simple for small firms.”
VAT eFiling fits alongside other emerging technologies that are all working together to give small businesses better control over their finances. For example, Xero launched South Africa’s first fully digital bank feed with Nedbank at the start of this year. This allows small businesses to automatically import banking transactions securely from their bank account to Xero – keeping their financial records fully up-to-date ahead of tax filing.
Xero VAT eFiling is available at no additional charge to all accountants and bookkeepers using Xero and all Xero small business plan subscribers.
You can find out more about how you can simplify VAT returns for your business here.
