The ITR12 is the personal income tax return that reconciles all income, deductions, and tax already paid for the year ending 28 or 29 February. Filing season usually opens 1 July for individuals and runs to mid-October for non-provisional taxpayers, late January for provisional taxpayers.
Most salaried taxpayers now receive an auto-assessment first — SARS pre-populates the return from third-party data (IRP5s, medical schemes, retirement funds, banks) and issues a notice. You can accept the auto-assessment as-is or open the full ITR12 if you have additional income, deductions, or capital gains to declare.
Filing late attracts admin penalties starting at R250 a month (or more, depending on income). Underestimating provisional tax through the ITR12 can also trigger interest under section 89quat. Both auto-assessment acceptance and full-return submission happen via eFiling or the SARS MobiApp.