Say goodbye to SARS tax numbers in South Africa

The South African government, spearheaded by SARS, wants all South Africans to have a unique digital ID that they use to engage with state services. 

This will enhance individual tax compliance, make it easier to recover lost documents and use government services, while also limiting opportunities for fraud and arbitrage. 

It will also end the need for an individual to have both an ID number issued by Home Affairs and a tax number from SARS. 

The taxman is at the forefront of this initiative through its Modernisation 3.0 project, which will effectively overhaul the service to be more efficient by leveraging technology. 

Much of this project’s focus has been on SARS’ VAT systems, which are set to be automated to enable real-time compliance and collection. 

However, a key part of it also relates to individual taxpayers, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter explained to 702 after presenting the 2026 Revenue Announcement. 

This announcement revealed that SARS collected over R2 trillion in a financial year for the first time in its history, exceeding its own targets. 

Kieswetter explained that SARS has spent much of the past seven years rebuilding its institutional capacity lost during state capture. 

Now, the entity is on the front foot, looking to modernise its systems, enhance compliance, and crack down on illicit activity. 

Part of this is establishing a unique digital identity for taxpayers and, ultimately, for all South Africans, to end arbitrage across multiple identification systems within the state. 

“We have found that for the 62 million individuals in South Africa, we have about seven to eight digital identities for every individual,” Kieswetter said. 

“This creates the opportunity for arbitrage. An individual may have an ID number, a tax number, a VAT number, and even a hospital number if they use public healthcare.” 

Kieswetter said these multiple identity numbers allow for significant arbitrage, crime, and fraud across the government, resulting in significant revenue losses and waste. 

“A unique digital identity is a whole-of-government endeavour, where we have a population register which is the only identity of an individual, and we turn that into a unique digital identity,” Kieswetter said. 

This unique identity would be used to identify individuals across all government services, eliminating the need in the future for Home Affairs to issue an ID number and for SARS to issue a tax number. 

“You will be known across the system of government with one identity. That is the power of a unique digital identity together with biometric and two-factor authentication,” Kieswetter said. 

Enhanced authentication and empowered employees

SARS’ efforts to introduce a digital ID are coupled with the entity enhancing its authentication systems and empowering its employees to handle queries more efficiently. 

Kieswetter explained that one of the most frustrating aspects of dealing with SARS is logging into its systems, with many forgetting passwords and usernames. 

“Even I forget my tax password every year. Because they only engage with SARS once a year, many forget their passwords and usernames,” Kieswetter said. 

“Because of that, we have had to deal with taxpayers forgetting these things. We have now built a platform that enables taxpayers to use WhatsApp or even a ‘dumb’ phone to go through a self-help system to get their password.” 

However, Kieswetter explained that using just a username and password to log in, with an OTP, is now outdated, with SARS looking to modernise its systems. 

“Passwords are old school. People forget their passwords, compromise their passwords, and we find that many taxpayers are being scammed,” Kieswetter said.

“Increasingly, the world is moving towards biometric authentication, which we have begun to deploy over the past 18 months.” 

Alongside the biometric authentication, SARS is implementing two-factor authentication to further enhance security. 

In particular, additional layers of security are being implemented for high-risk transactions, such as refunds, payments, and processes involving bank account details. 

Apart from these enhanced security features, Kieswetter explained that SARS is empowering its employees to resolve queries more efficiently and independently. 

“Similarly, to enhance taxpayers’ service, our employees, who are appropriately skilled and professional, will be empowered to view the comprehensive accounts of taxpayers,” said Kieswetter.

“Through this, they will similarly be empowered to resolve any query, and progress or resolve any outstanding matter on behalf of the taxpayer.”

Aside from the digital identity, SARS will partner with the South African Reserve Bank to build a cost-effective instant payment system.

Kieswetter said the system is intended to increase financial inclusion, reduce cash in circulation, and strengthen the overall integrity of the national payments system.