Tax registration at SARS for individuals and sole proprietors
A client wants your tax number before they pay you. A bank wants it before the account opens. You have never had one, or you had one years ago and cannot get into anything. We register you with SARS, set up eFiling so it actually works, add the tax types your situation needs and hand you a profile you can use. Fixed price, in writing.
Independent paperwork service. ProperSA is an independent private company, not SARS. You can register on eFiling or the SARS MobiApp yourself at no charge, and SARS issues a tax number automatically to a first time eFiler. Our fee pays for the identity and document verification being done right first time, the provisional tax question answered, and a profile handed over in working order.
What is included
- Your existing SARS record checked first, because many people already have a number from a previous employer and registering again creates a duplicate that takes months to merge
- Income tax registration for you as an individual, sole proprietor or freelancer, with the tax reference number issued
- eFiling set up in your name with the identity verification passed, or the branch appointment or online query booked where SARS insists on it
- The provisional tax question answered and, where your business or rental income makes you provisional, that status set up with the payment dates diarised
- Your contact, address and banking details captured and verified with the proofs SARS asks for, so refunds and notices reach you
- A one page handover: your number, how to get your compliance status, the dates that matter, and what a client or bank will ask for
What goes wrong when it is done in a hurry
- A duplicate registrationRegistering again when an old number exists from a first job. SARS then has two records and the merge takes months, during which no compliance status can be issued.
- Failing the identity checkeFiling verifies you against Home Affairs with a photograph. A poor selfie or a mismatch in names locks the profile, and the way out is a branch appointment.
- Not knowing you are provisionalRental, freelance or business income makes you a provisional taxpayer with two estimated payments a year. The first sign is usually a penalty.
- Registering a business that does not existA sole proprietor is the person. There is no separate business tax number, and trying to create one only confuses SARS.
How ordering works
- Order online and answer the short questionnaire on who you are and where your income comes from.
- We check for an existing number, then register you and set up eFiling with you on a short call for the identity step. Where SARS wants documents, we tell you exactly what and upload them.
- Your tax number, working eFiling profile and handover sheet land in your portal, usually within 2 to 5 business days.
Not sure this is the right one for you? Ask us first and you get a written answer within one business day.
What we will need from you
SARS lists the identity and proof documents it accepts, and the list below follows it.
- Your identity document, or your passport if you are a foreign national, with a clear copy. SARS also accepts a driver’s licence or temporary identity document for the registration itself.
- Proof of your residential address, recent and in your name, or the affidavit route if it is not.
- Your bank account details and proof, a stamped statement or bank letter, so refunds can be paid.
- A working cellphone number and email address that are yours, because SARS sends one time PINs to both.
- Where your income comes from: employment, a business in your own name, rental, freelance work, investments, or income from abroad. It decides the tax types and whether you are provisional.
- Any old tax number or IRP5 you can find, so we merge rather than duplicate.
Frequently asked questions
Is SARS registration not free?
It is. SARS charges nothing, and when you register for eFiling for the first time without a tax number SARS issues one automatically. What people pay us for is getting it done properly the first time: the identity verification that fails on a bad selfie, the address and bank proofs SARS then asks for, the provisional tax question, and a profile that actually works when a client, a bank or a tender asks for your tax number and compliance status.
I have a side business. Do I register the business or myself?
Yourself. SARS says a sole proprietorship is a business owned by a natural person, and the owner declares the business income in their own return. There is one tax number, yours. What changes is that you probably become a provisional taxpayer, with two estimated payments a year, and we set that up so the first penalty never arrives.
I am not South African. Can you register me?
Yes, with a passport and the supporting documents SARS asks for from a non resident or a foreign national working here. SARS verifies identity and address, and a foreign passport usually means a branch appointment or the SARS online query system rather than the automatic route. We handle the booking and the file.
Do you file my tax return afterwards?
No. Registration is administration and we do it; completing a return for a fee is registered tax practitioner work under section 240 of the Tax Administration Act and we are not one. When the return is due we refer you to a registered practitioner, and your profile will be ready for them.
What about a company’s tax number?
A company gets its income tax number automatically from SARS when CIPC registers it, so it needs no separate registration. What a company needs is a registered representative on eFiling, which is our SARS representative setup service, and then whichever tax types it must add, such as VAT or PAYE.
Keep exploring
This is an administrative service performed with your authority on your own SARS profile. ProperSA is not a registered tax practitioner and does not give tax advice or complete tax returns; whether you are a provisional taxpayer is decided by the Income Tax Act on your own facts, and where a matter needs a registered practitioner we say so and refer you before any work starts.