Indaba
4notify South Africa · Government Gazette
OFFICIAL · South African Revenue Service (SARS)
Indaba No
IND-ZA-003
Date
2026-05-27
Status
In force
Category
Tax

SARS eFiling, e-invoicing and VAT: delivery and acknowledgement notices for South African businesses

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) runs eFiling, the VAT vendor system and the modernised invoicing programme. VAT-registered vendors must issue compliant tax invoices and file returns on eFiling. 4notify integrates with South African accounting software (Sage, Xero, QuickBooks, Pastel) and delivers acknowledgements, validation status reports and submission notices.

EmailWebhook
Preamble

Section 1 — In terms of the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 and the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011, this Indaba is convened on the delivery of eFiling acknowledgements and VAT invoice validation status reports.

Statutory basis
Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991

Tax-invoice content requirements and VAT-vendor record-keeping obligations.

Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011

eFiling submission, record retention (five years) and SARS communication standards.

SARS eFiling and VAT modernisation rules

Electronic submission thresholds, validation responses and acknowledgement formats.

Implementation
01

Sage / Xero / QuickBooks webhook

4notify subscribes to the invoice queue in the accounting software; validation runs before submission to SARS eFiling.

02

Acknowledgement + validation report

The acknowledgement reaches the issuer within sixty seconds; validation status (accepted / queried / rejected) follows after five minutes.

03

Route to the correct tax practitioner

Using the practitioner's SARS PR number, the acknowledgement is routed to the relevant bookkeeper or accountant.

04

Five-year retention (TAA)

Each invoice and acknowledgement is retained with a hash signature for five years — aligned with the Tax Administration Act.

Delivery envelope
xml
<vat-acknowledgement xmlns="https://4notify.net/sars/v1">
  <document_no>SARS2026000000481923</document_no>
  <buyer_vat>4123456789</buyer_vat>
  <seller_vat>4987654321</seller_vat>
  <type>tax_invoice</type>
  <validation_status>accepted</validation_status>
  <ack_channel>email,webhook</ack_channel>
  <practitioner_pr>PR-0005555</practitioner_pr>
</vat-acknowledgement>
Sample message
EmailSubject: Acknowledgement: VAT tax invoice SARS2026000000481923

Dear Vendor, We successfully received and validated your tax invoice SARS2026000000481923 on 27 May 2026 at 14:32. Validation status: accepted Routed to: Tax Practitioner (PR-0005555) Kind regards, 4notify Operations

Compliance checklist
  • Sage / Xero / QuickBooks / Pastel webhook configured
  • VAT tax-invoice validation at the API edge
  • P50 acknowledgement ≤ 60 seconds measured
  • Five-year retention documented (Tax Administration Act)
The 4notify difference

4notify is the only A2P provider with native Sage/Xero/QuickBooks integration, VAT invoice validation at the API edge and Tax Administration Act-aligned five-year audit retention for South African vendors.

Frequently asked questions
Does 4notify need a SARS eFiling API key on our side?

No. 4notify works with the delivery envelopes produced by your accounting software; the SARS eFiling connection stays with your bookkeeper or accountant.

Which accounting packages are supported?

Sage, Xero, QuickBooks and Pastel are supported natively. Any package that can emit an invoice webhook can be normalised into the 4notify envelope.

Convened by
4notify Operations Office
2026-05-27 · IND-ZA-003

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