Nicolette Dirk, finance writer, Justmoney.co.za
Leading up to tax season in July, online virtual tax assistant TaxTim, launched a Cloud service as a system for taxpayers to help keep taxpayers’ documents organised in a central place.
With the July tax season just around the corner, taxpayers will be inundated with documents from employers and benefit schemes via email or the post. With TaxTim this information can be stored online until they are needed for completing tax returns. Cloud services can be accessed from any PC, tablet or mobile device which prevents the loss of important data.
How does TaxTim’s Cloud service work?
TaxTim director, Marc Sevitz, said most of the stress taxpayers face when completing their tax returns is collating all those documents required to describe their incomes and expenses on their tax return.
“Because the documents are sent out between May and June, they are often forgotten about and people find themselves sifting through old correspondence or making last minute phone calls to the various institutions involved which can be a painful process,” said Sevitz.
According to him, creating a system for taxpayers, who complete their tax returns online to keep their documents organised, was a logical step for TaxTim to make filing tax returns easier.
Evan Robinson, chief technology officer of TaxTim, said that because so many people have access to digital technology, it makes it an easy way to store tax documents.
“It takes users five seconds to forward their documents in an email to TaxTim where they are then stored safely and securely in an encrypted archive for convenient use during tax season. The process is simple, but by keeping good records, taxpayers decrease their chances of attracting penalties from SARS,” said Robinson.
He added that one in four people are randomly audited by SARS, but being able to provide documents for audits post-filing is straightforward when using cloud storage.
However, keeping your documents up on the TaxTim cloud does come at a cost. You can choose between two packages. For the TaxTim Smart package you pay R299 annually and for the TaxTim Ultra package you pay R399 annually. The Smart package includes a professional tax return and three priority tax question, while the Ultra package includes a professional tax return, five priority tax questions, one SARS document review and a vehicle logbook app.
Besides assisting with your tax return, the two packages will now also include the online tax document storage. You get 20% off both packages if you apply before July.
Robinson said what makes their storage facility different from other cloud services is that it is specifically geared towards filing tax documents.
Documents which can be sent to TaxTim for storage include:
• An IRP5 form from your employer(s) indicating your salary and benefits
• Medical aid tax certificates from your medical aid scheme
• IT3(b) / IT3(c) documents declaring your income from investments
• Tax certificate’s received from Public Benefit Organisations / charities for donations made
• Certificates received from retirement, pension and income protection funds
For more information on TaxTim go to https://www.taxtim.com/za/