The late payment of taxes, even by 1 day, will result in a 10% penalty. SARS accepts that sometimes unforeseen things happen outside of your control, which prevents you from paying your taxes by the deadline. In these situations, a Request for Remission of Penalty can be submitted.
However, certain requirements need to be met in order for SARS to consider setting aside/reversing the penalty:
This needs to be the First Incidence of late payment during the preceding 36-month period, or the amount should be less than R2,000, and
You need to have a reasonable reason for paying late (Leaving it to the last minute and then forgetting about it, unfortunately, will not qualify as a reasonable reason), and
The outstanding taxes have to have been settled.
If you meet the above criteria, a Request for Remission for Penalty can only be submitted via SARS eFiling. Based on the evidence provided, SARS may then either waive the full penalty or part thereof.