SARS new USSD service for Individuals
SARS has announced that they have developed new USSD technology to assist individual taxpayers to become, and to remain, tax compliant.

The options available for individual taxpayers using this technology are—
Check their tax numbers
Obtain account balances
Check whether or not a tax return must be submitted
Make an e-Booking to visit a SARS branch.
At this early stage, it appears that employees can use this new technology to obtain their income tax reference numbers which will assist employers to report the income tax reference numbers on tax certificates.
Below please find the SARS note relating to this announcement.

Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin Manager Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
SARS Notice
New USSD Service makes it easier for taxpayers to comply
SARS is excited to introduce a USSD service, as an additional channel for taxpayers to manage their tax matters. This is in line with the strategic objectives to make it easy for taxpayers to comply and fulfill their tax obligations, as well as to modernise our systems to provide digital and streamline services.
From 20 March 2023, taxpayers may use the code *134*7277# to interact with us thereafter choosing from one of the four menu options:
To check if they have a tax number
To get their account balance
To check if they need to submit a tax return
To make an e-Booking to visit a branch
We still have a sizable population of taxpayers who do not have access to eFiling, the SARS MobiApp, or own a smart phone, which is the reason for introducing this channel. The service is free for taxpayers to use, and it doesn’t need access to any data. As a member of the SARS community and one of our ambassadors, we urge you to familiarise yourself with the new service and spread the word about it whenever you have tax-related enquiries. With the new channel, taxpayers will have answers quickly in the palm of their hands.
USSD stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, this code works similarly to a text message and establishes real-time communication between a cellphone and server. A user with a phone that has limited storage will be able to use this code. This is an interactive channel that taxpayers without smart phone can use to reach for some of our service offerings.
We will publish infographics that you can easily download and share in due course.