When a VAT201 return and payment are due
When a South African VAT201 return and payment are due, why eFiling users get until the last business day, and the payment reference each return needs.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
Ask a room of business owners when VAT is due and you will hear "the 25th" and "month-end" in roughly equal measure. Both are right, for different vendors. The difference comes down to how you file and pay, and a business that assumes the later date without qualifying for it is paying late every period without knowing it.
This article sets out when a South African VAT201 return and its payment are due, why eFiling users get more time, what happens when a due date falls on a weekend, the earliest date you may submit, and the payment reference each return carries. It closes with how to take the figures from your books and keep the deadline diary.
A return for every period
The starting point is simple. SARS says a vendor must complete a VAT201 return for every tax period and submit it on or before the due date.
"Every tax period" includes periods with no sales, periods with a refund and periods when the business was quiet. A nil period still needs a return. How often your periods end depends on your VAT category, covered in VAT categories A to E.
The 25th, or the last business day for eFiling
SARS sets two due dates, depending on how you deal with it.
SARS says VAT returns and payments are due on or before the 25th day of the month after the tax period ends, or the last business day of that month for vendors who file and pay through eFiling. Its guide to completing the VAT201 puts it the same way: vendors who submit VAT201 returns manually must do so by the 25th, while vendors who use eFiling have until the last business day of the month to submit returns and payments.
| How you file and pay | Return and payment due |
|---|---|
| Manually | On or before the 25th of the month after the period ends |
| Through eFiling, return and payment | The last business day of that month |
The eFiling date applies to vendors who file and pay through eFiling. A vendor that files on eFiling but pays by another route should check with SARS which date applies, rather than assuming the later one.
When the 25th is not a business day
SARS adds a rule for weekends and public holidays: where the 25th is not a business day, the deadline moves to the preceding business day.
So the date moves earlier, never later. If the 25th falls on a Sunday, a manual filer's deadline is the Friday before. The eFiling date is already defined as the last business day of the month, so it does not move in the same way.
You cannot file before the 1st
There is also an earliest date. SARS's VAT201 guide says a vendor may only submit a VAT201 return from the 1st day of the month following the tax period for which the return must be made.
That gives every vendor a window, from the 1st of the month after the period to the due date. For a manual filer, the window is short; for an eFiling user, it runs to the end of the month. Either way, there is no filing a period's return before the period has ended.
Each return's own payment reference
Paying the right amount on time is not enough if SARS cannot link the payment to the return. SARS's VAT201 guide says each VAT201 return carries its own unique 19-digit Payment Reference Number, the PRN, which SARS pre-populates, and which must be used when paying so the payment is linked to that return.
The PRN belongs to one return. Reusing last period's PRN, or paying without it, risks the payment landing somewhere other than the return you meant it for. The mechanics of paying by EFT with the correct beneficiary and reference are covered in paying SARS by EFT with the right reference.
SARS's page on the obligations of a VAT vendor sets out what a registered vendor must do, including submitting the VAT201 and paying on time.
Taking the figures from your books, and keeping the diary yourself
Achekam does not prepare, store or submit a South African VAT201 return, and nothing is submitted to SARS eFiling. You or your accountant complete and submit the return. Which figures can be taken from your Achekam books, and how, is covered in preparing your VAT201 when your books are in Achekam.
What Achekam can do is make sure the figures you take are final. Months can be soft-closed, hard-closed and locked. A closed month refuses postings from every source, and reopening a hard close needs a second approver. Before closing, the screen checks that the ledger balances and that no posting suggestions, unposted bills or unmatched bank lines are waiting. Close the period's months before you take the figures, and the return you submit will still agree with your books next year.
Do not rely on Achekam for the deadline itself. The obligations list on the Tax Dashboard shows sample data, and obligations added there are not saved. Keep the VAT diary somewhere that is saved and that someone checks.
A simple calendar for each period:
- The 1st of the following month: the period is closed in the books and the return can be submitted.
- A few working days later: the figures are taken from the books and checked.
- Well before the due date: the return is submitted and paid with that return's PRN.
- After paying: SARS's statement is checked to confirm the payment was linked to the return.
Picking your date
Work out which due date applies to you: the 25th, moved earlier for weekends and holidays, or the last business day if you both file and pay through eFiling. Put it in the diary for every period of the year, and plan to file and pay a few days early. The best due date is the one you never come close to.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
