SARS tax-compliance PIN: what a verification result tells you

A SARS Tax Compliance Status PIN lets a taxpayer authorise a third party to check their compliance, but the result reflects the position when the PIN is used.

That timing matters when an organisation needs a current check. The revenue service’s verification guidance says the PIN must come from the taxpayer and be used through SARS eFiling or the SARS Online Query System.

For eFiling verification, the person carrying out the check must be authorised to use the service. An authorised representative or administrator activates the verification function and assigns the applicable user rights.

The verifier enters the taxpayer’s tax reference number and supplied PIN, then checks that the displayed identity matches the taxpayer they intended to verify.

SARS uses green for tax affairs in order and red for tax affairs not in order. The verification can be printed and is also stored in the service’s history.

A result should therefore be read with its verification date and time. This guide does not determine an individual’s tax position or confirm a live transaction. The official instructions were checked on 7 November 2026; no taxpayer details were submitted or account functions tested.

Archive photograph: a SARS building in George, photographed on 13 January 2015. Photo: Bob Adams / Wikimedia Commons. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Architecture-_SARS_building_(16085114729).jpg . Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ . Cropped and resized for display; display adaptations are licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. This is institutional context, not a screenshot or verification result.