SARS eFiling System Hit by Major Outage, Taxpayers Stranded ### DATELINE: Johannesburg, South Africa — July 13, 2026 ### LEAD The South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) eFiling platform experienced a significant outage on July 3, 2026, leaving thousands of taxpayers unable to access and submit their tax returns, according to reports. ### NUT GRAF: The outage, which affected various web browsers and resulted in errors and delays, underscores the critical importance of reliable digital services for tax compliance in South Africa. ### BODY: The SARS eFiling system, a crucial tool for individuals and businesses to meet their tax obligations, encountered unforeseen technical difficulties, leading to a major outage.
Users reported a range of issues, including the inability to log in, receiving ‘unexpected error’messages, and delays or failure to receive one-time passwords (OTP) for two-factor authentication.
According to reports from outage reporting website Downdetector, the spike in complaints regarding the SARS e — filing system began around 08:00 on Monday, July 7, 2025.
The issues were not limited to a single browser, with users experiencing problems on Firefox and Edge, among others.
In an official bulletin board posting, SARS confirmed the outage, indicating that there would be intermittent service interruptions between 18:00 and 22:00 on July 3, 2026. This timing coincided with the start of the tax season, when many taxpayers are typically busy filing their returns.
The outage has raised concerns about the reliability of digital services in the tax compliance process.
With the increasing reliance on technology for tax filing, such disruptions can have significant implications for taxpayers and the revenue service alike. ### KICKER: As of the time of publication, SARS has not provided an official statement on the cause of the outage or the expected timeline for full service restoration.
Taxpayers are advised to monitor the SARS website and social media channels for updates.
### [Is Sarsefiling down – July, 2026? ]( Co.
Za/status/sarsefiling.
Co.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
—
This original article was produced by the ImNews editorial team
Source: Google News v2
