As an EasyVestor, it is important to know what taxes you can incur during your investing journey, the certificates you should have, where to submit them and why. Let’s talk about all things you need to know about your tax certificates.
What is a tax certificate?
A tax certificate is a document that you receive from a bank or financial institution, which confirms your contributions during the tax year, and in compliance with SARS, it is important to submit your tax certificate annually. You need to submit all your certificates to SARS, note that they must correspond with the applicable financial year.
Why do you receive one tax certificate for each of the accounts you have?
You are issued a tax certificate for each of the products you have, because each product is different. As an investor you are required to submit a certificate for each of the products you have to SARS annually as per their regulations. For example, when you have a retirement annuity, your retirement fund administrator will issue you with a tax certificate to confirm your contributions during the tax year, and although with your retirement annuity, the certificate will show only your contributions not the growth.
What should you do with it when you are issued with a tax certificate?
If you are completing your own tax return, check the codes on your certificates and plug in the relevant fields on your return. If you are using a tax practitioner, then simply send the certificates to them.
When you are new to investing, like myself, understanding tax can seem like an intimidating and complex process. As a new EasyVestor, I found it helpful to explore some of the questions I had regarding tax and presented them to one of our Easy tax experts, to help me gain better understanding of what a tax certificate is and what I should know when I am issued with one.
Understanding these three important tax related questions gave me confidence as a young female, new to investing. Stay tuned on our next blog for the release of the second part of tax education 101. I will be looking at another part to tax, so that you can better enjoy your investing journey like I am.