The annual taxation cycle is one of my pet hates. I know that the deadline is drawing nearer, but I tend to put off sending in my forms until the last minute, when it becomes a dash for the nearest post office.
Then you wait to find out if you owe money or you have paid too much over the past year.
To my utter amazement, I received notification this year that after my taxes had been diligently calculated by the South African Revenue Service (SARS), it had decided I owed 18c.
I stared blankly at the tax assessment in front of me. Is this a joke? How do you even pay 18c? Surely this letter cost more in postage than 18c? When I began to add up all the costs associated with paying my debt to SARS, I began to feel hot under the collar. A call was necessary.
After I waited on hold for about three minutes, a polite call-centre member named Tabisa Twaku informed me that in fact I did not have to pay the 18c, which would be carried forward to be taken off a future assessment.
“You only have to start paying a balance that is over R25,” said Twaku. The sense of relief was overwhelming, no lunch-break dash for a postal order for 18c. Great!
Maybe I should have read the fine print on the back of my SARS income tax assessment.