What Happens if Your VAT Return Is Late?
Whether you’re self-employed or a small business owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure all your tax returns are submitted accurately and on time. With deadlines and new schemes coming into play, you may be thinking...
‘What Happens If My VAT Return Is Late?’
If you don’t submit your VAT return to SARS on time, you’re not just liable for a late payment penalty. You’ll also have to pay interest on that too until you pay it. However, depending on your previous VAT payment history, you could receive a Surcharge Liability Notice (SLN) instead.
Surcharges and Penalties SARS issue a ‘default’ if:
They don’t receive your accurate VAT return by the deadline
- Full payment for the VAT due hasn’t reached their account by that deadline
There are always reasons behind a missed or late VAT payment and you must get to the root of what is causing it. Were the errors careless and non-deliberate? Or were they deliberate with intent to conceal?