Unfiled returns piling up? Here’s the order to fix them in

If you are behind on returns, you already know. It sits there. And the longer it sits the more it feels like something you need a clear month to face, which you will never have.

You do not need a clear month. You need the right order.

Do not start with the oldest one

This is the instinct, and it is the wrong move. The oldest return is usually the hardest, the records are the thinnest, and you will lose a weekend to it and give up.

Step one: find out what is actually outstanding

Not what you think is outstanding. What the records say. Your SARS profile will tell you which returns are showing as outstanding and whether your tax compliance status is affected. CIPC will tell you whether annual returns are up to date and whether the company is at risk of deregistration.

Write it down in one list. Almost everyone finds this list is shorter than the one in their head.

Step two: stop anything still running

Some obligations keep accruing whether you file or not. Those come first, because every month you wait makes them bigger. A return from three years ago is not getting worse. A current one is.

Step three: split the list in two

Some of it is admin — finding records, reconciling, submitting. Some of it needs a registered tax practitioner or an attorney, and genuinely cannot be done by anyone else.

We will tell you which is which before any work starts, and bring in a registered professional for the second group rather than attempting it ourselves. You will never be left thinking a gap is handled when it is not.

Step four: work backwards from now

Get current first, then go back one period at a time. It feels slower. It is not, because each period you complete makes the one before it easier to reconstruct.

Step five: make sure it cannot happen again

Every deadline that caught you goes on a calendar with a reminder, owned by a named person. That is the only step that stops you being back here in two years, and it takes an afternoon.

“Nothing about this is dramatic. It is just a list, in the right order, with someone keeping the dates.”