The taxpayer originally come to us in the 2009 tax year to get her taxes sorted. According to SARS at the time her 2001 to 2009 taxes were inactive and we had to request the reactivation of her tax number. SARS sent us a notification of registration which
Important:
This answer is based on tax law for the tax year ending 28 February 2020.
Answer:
The taxpayer would only be able to not have to file this return, if the return was in fact submitted.
The problem, if she doesn’t have an assessment, or if no assessment is recorded on the SARS system, is that SARS will maintain that it was never submitted and may require that the outstanding one be submitted. The taxpayer will then have a problem obtaining the income and deductions (or proof thereof).
If the client was only in receipt of employment income subject to employees’ tax, SARS may well have the records.
The individual may have to make a sworn statement stating that the return was submitted to SARS if none of the above is possible.