Fintura SARS integration
Link the firm's eFiling portfolios so every taxpayer, what they still owe and what SARS has sent all sit on the client record, and prepare and submit VAT201 and EMP201 from there.
What is the Fintura SARS integration?
The Fintura SARS integration is a two-way link between Fintura and the firm's eFiling portfolios, built on Fintura's status as an official SARS ISV Partner, so every taxpayer in them, their outstanding returns and payments and their SARS correspondence appear against the client you already work in. VAT201 and EMP201 returns are prepared in Fintura and submitted to SARS from there, and their status is followed through to assessment. IRP6 provisional returns are coming very soon.
A firm adds as many portfolios as it runs, and the taxpayers in each one are matched to existing Fintura clients when the portfolio is added, with the result laid out in a Taxpayer Mappings table you can correct.
What syncs, and in which direction
Every row is what the SARS connection does today. Anything still to come is labelled as on the roadmap rather than left to be assumed.
| Data | Direction | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxpayer list | SARS to Fintura | On connect, then on a re-sync you run | Every taxpayer in the portfolio is fetched and listed under it. |
| Taxpayer to client matching | In Fintura | On connect | Fintura matches the taxpayers to your existing clients and puts the result in the Taxpayer Mappings table for you to check. |
| Outstanding returns | In Fintura | Recomputed on a schedule, and on demand | Fintura works out what is still outstanding per taxpayer from what SARS reports. |
| Outstanding payments | SARS to Fintura | On a schedule, and on demand | What SARS shows as owing is pulled through and held against the client it belongs to. |
| Submission status | SARS to Fintura | On a schedule, for recent periods | A return moves from outstanding to submitted to assessed as SARS updates it, and Fintura follows that on its own pass. |
| Correspondence and letters | SARS to Fintura | Backfilled after you connect, then added to on later syncs | SARS letters land on the client record rather than in a shared inbox nobody owns. |
| Statements of account | SARS to Fintura | Requested, then collected on a later pass | The request goes to SARS and the statement is picked up once it is ready, so this is a click-and-wait operation. |
| VAT201 | Fintura to SARS | When a preparer submits | Prepared per period in Fintura, with figures pre-filled where a ledger connection is mapped, and submitted to SARS. |
| EMP201 | Fintura to SARS | When a preparer submits | Prepared per period in Fintura, with figures pre-filled where a payroll connection is mapped, and submitted to SARS. |
| IRP6 | On the roadmap | Coming very soon | Provisional returns are not submitted from Fintura yet. When they are, they will be prepared and submitted from the same taxpayer record as the rest of the work. |
| Payments | Fintura to SARS | On user action | A payment to SARS is started from Fintura against the taxpayer it belongs to. |
How you would use it
See what every client owes
Once the portfolios are connected, each taxpayer's outstanding returns and outstanding payments sit against the client you already work in, rather than behind a separate login per client.
Read what SARS has sent
Correspondence, letters and statements of account arrive against the client. Statements are requested and collected on their own schedule, so they land rather than appear on demand.
Prepare, submit and follow it through
A return is created per period. Where a ledger or payroll connection is mapped the figures pre-fill, the preparer reviews and submits, and the status is followed through to assessment.
What it does not do
- Does not read SARS's own tax compliance status. The compliant and non-compliant view in Fintura is calculated by Fintura from outstanding returns and outstanding payments. It is a Fintura view informed by SARS data, not SARS's verdict, and the two can differ.
- Does not register taxpayers with SARS. Registering a client for VAT or PAYE is a Compliance service in Fintura: a workflow with the documents generated for you, and a person files them.
- Does not submit income tax returns. VAT201 and EMP201 are the returns Fintura files today, with IRP6 coming very soon, and income tax returns for individuals, companies and trusts are not among them.
- Does not submit EMP501 reconciliations.
- Does not return everything while you wait. Statements of account are requested and then collected on a later pass.
- Does not update on its own between syncs. Everything arrives on a schedule or because someone asked for it.
- Does not refresh every historic period. Submission status is refreshed for the two most recent statutory periods per taxpayer per return type.
- Does not submit anything without a person pressing submit.
Three steps to connect SARS
- 1
Have the firm's eFiling access in place
The firm needs its own eFiling access to its clients' profiles before any of this works. This is a prerequisite, and Fintura does not arrange it for you.
- 2
Add a portfolio
In Fintura, go to Tax, then Integrations, then SARS eFiling, and choose Add Portfolio. Name it, choose an environment, provide the firm's access and connect.
- 3
Confirm the taxpayer mappings
Fintura pulls the taxpayer list and matches it to your clients. Review the Taxpayer Mappings table and place anything it could not.
Frequently asked questions.
What South African firms ask about SARS in Fintura.
Yes. Fintura is an official SARS ISV Partner, listed by SARS. That approval is what allows VAT201 and EMP201 returns to be submitted to SARS from inside Fintura rather than rekeyed into a separate eFiling login, and it is why the taxpayer data on the client record comes from SARS itself.
Yes. Taxpayer lists, outstanding payments, submission status, correspondence and statements come into Fintura, and VAT201 and EMP201 returns and payments go out to SARS, with IRP6 coming very soon. Everything moves on a schedule or because someone asked for it, so nothing arrives while you watch.
No. The compliant and non-compliant view in Fintura is worked out by Fintura from outstanding returns and outstanding payments. It is a Fintura view informed by SARS data rather than SARS's own verdict on a taxpayer, and the two can differ.
Yes. A firm adds as many portfolios as it runs, each with its own name and its own taxpayer list. Taxpayers from every portfolio are matched to your Fintura clients, so the client register stays one list rather than becoming one per portfolio.
VAT201 and EMP201 today, with IRP6 provisional returns coming very soon. Income tax returns such as ITR12 and ITR14 are not submitted from Fintura, and neither are EMP501 reconciliations. Registering a taxpayer for VAT or PAYE is different again: that is a Compliance service, where the documents are generated for you and a person files them.
No. eFiling stays SARS's own channel, and the firm needs its own eFiling access to its clients' profiles before any of this works. What changes is where the work is organised: the taxpayer, what is outstanding, the letters SARS has sent and the return being prepared all sit on the client record instead of behind a separate login.
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The modules behind this: VAT submissions · PAYE submissions · SARS correspondence
