Individual tax filing season opens fully on Monday (15 July), and taxpayers are warned to stay vigilant as cybercriminals seek a quick payday.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced 15 July 2024 as the start date of the filing season for provisional and non-provisional taxpayers who must file a tax return.

Taxpayers who did not receive or agree with auto-assessments issued between 1 July 2024 and 14 July 2024 will need to file a tax return.

Tax experts at Tax Consulting SA have warned that the number of tax scams has increased significantly in 2024 compared to 2023, with criminals getting more sophisticated in their modus operandi and keeping up to date with the latest developments at SARS to better fool victims.

Notably, tax season has become a popular time for criminals to send out fraudulent emails and SMSs claiming to be from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), engaging in phishing and social engineering scams.

Messages and communications sent to victims can often appear above board, coming from addresses such as returns@sars.co.za or refunds@sars.co.za, and often claim that the recipient is due a tax refund or owes money to SARS.

Messages also typically feature links to fake forms and websites that mimic the official SARS site to get taxpayers to provide personal information to make payments.

“There are many variations on these scams, and although the specific premise and wording might change, it is concerning that spoofed emails, SMSs, and cloned sites mimicking SARS tend to look more convincing each year and are therefore quite successful in luring unsuspecting individuals into complying,” said Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of ESET Southern Africa.

Source: TRADE FINANCE