Signing tax documents electronically for SARS
When a document under a South African tax Act may be signed electronically, how rule 7 and the ECT Act differ, and what a simple e-signature gives you.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa
The client is in Durban, the public officer is travelling, and the return needs a signature by Friday. Someone suggests e-mailing a PDF for an electronic signature. Someone else remembers hearing that "SARS needs an advanced signature". A third person thinks a scanned handwritten signature is fine because "it's what we always do".
All three are partly right, and that is the problem. South African law has more than one test for an electronic signature, and which one applies depends on the document and the law requiring the signature. This article separates the tests, explains what SARS's own rule says, and is clear about what a simple e-signature platform can and cannot do.
Rule 7: SARS's own test
SARS's Electronic Communications Guide quotes rule 7 of the electronic communication rules. It allows a document under a tax Act to be signed electronically if the signature:
- is uniquely linked to, and identifies, the signatory;
- can be accepted by SARS's systems;
- is reliable for the purpose.
The guide is Issue 1, dated February 2015. Notice that rule 7 does not name a technology. It sets conditions, and the second one is practical rather than legal: if SARS's systems cannot accept the signature, the other two conditions do not help. Before relying on an electronic signature for a document going to SARS, establish how SARS expects that particular document to be signed and submitted.
The ECT Act's default for legal requirements
The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, in the text as originally published on the government's site, sets two different rules in section 13.
Under section 13(1), where a law requires a person's signature without specifying the type, that requirement is met for a data message only if an advanced electronic signature is used.
Under section 13(3), where the parties to an electronic transaction require an electronic signature without agreeing its type, any method that identifies the person, shows their approval and is appropriately reliable meets the requirement.
Later amendments to the Act are not reflected in that published text, so check the current consolidated Act before relying on the wording. The distinction is still the useful one: a signature required by law is treated differently from a signature the parties themselves agreed to require.
Sorting the practice's documents
A practical way to apply this is to sort the documents a practice handles by who requires the signature:
| Document type | Who requires the signature | Test to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement letters, fee agreements, client approvals | The parties | Section 13(3): identifies, shows approval, appropriately reliable |
| Documents under a tax Act going to SARS | The tax Acts and SARS's rules | Rule 7, including whether SARS's systems accept it |
| Documents where another law requires a signature without saying what kind | That law | Section 13(1): an advanced electronic signature |
The scanned handwritten signature pasted into a PDF deserves a word too: an image of a signature says little about who placed it there, which is exactly what each of these tests asks about. Where a document does not fit neatly, take advice rather than guessing. A signature that fails the applicable test can leave the document unsigned in law.
Advanced electronic signature providers
An advanced electronic signature must come from a provider accredited for that purpose. The South African Accreditation Authority keeps the list of providers of advanced electronic signatures; check it before choosing one, since it can change. The detail of how advanced signatures work is in the advanced electronic signature in South Africa.
What Achekam's e-signatures are
Achekam's e-signatures are simple electronic signatures. The completion certificate cites section 13 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and states that they are not advanced electronic signatures. They should not be used where a law requires an advanced electronic signature.
Within that limit, they suit the documents in the first row of the table. Staff can prepare a document for e-signature and add signers, approvers and copied recipients in order, and each signer signs from an e-mailed link without needing an Achekam account. Links last 30 days by default. There is no menu entry: the signing console opens from My Dashboard's "Out for signature" tile, a document's page, or Settings > RFI Templates > Signing templates.
When everyone has signed, Achekam produces the signed PDF with a completion certificate listing each signer's e-mail address, the times, IP address and browser, and the document's fingerprint, and files it in the client's "Signed documents" folder.
That evidence speaks to identifying the signatory and showing approval. Whether it meets rule 7 for a specific document going to SARS, including whether SARS's systems will accept it, is a judgement the practice has to make for that document; Achekam does not present its signatures as anything more than simple ones. How e-signature certificates compare across the three countries is covered in e-signature certificates by country.
A rule of thumb for the practice
- Use simple e-signatures for agreements and approvals between the practice and its clients.
- For anything going to SARS, follow SARS's instructions for that document first.
- Where a law requires a signature without saying what kind, use an advanced electronic signature from a listed provider.
- Keep the completion certificate or provider evidence with the signed document.
The rule in full
SARS's Electronic Communications Guide explains the electronic communication rules under the Tax Administration Act, including the rule on electronic signatures. Read rule 7 there with whoever manages the practice's signing process, and write the practice's own rule of thumb into its procedures.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
