The South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Sunday released the numbers related to refunds citizens received from the body for the 2016/2017 tax year, and it went into billions.
According to the SARS statement, 2.22 million non-provisional taxpayers received R18.5-billion in refunds for this tax season.
This was a 26 percent increase from last year, SARS said. The refunds were connected to tax returns filed for the current season and filed between July 1 and November 24.
"In total, R19.8-billion in refunds have been paid to individuals for this financial year to date, inclusive of prior year returns, directly contributing to household incomes and the domestic economy; 93.63 percent of returns [were] processed within 24 hours," the statement explained.
The revenue service added that it also saw in improvement in spotting and preventing fraudulent claims from being paid out.
"Significantly, during tax season 2017, Sars prevented R2.7-billion in fraudulent claims in the personal income tax environment, saving the fiscus potential revenue loss. This was a R900-million (50 percent) improvement from last year when R1-8 billion in fraudulent claims was prevented during the same period (tax season)," the statement added.
The tax season closed on Friday, November 24, and SARS said that by that time, it had received 5.67 million returns, which included returns filed for previous years.
The rate of individual expected returns submitted on time for this tax season exceeded last year's number, 94 percent for this year compared with 91 percent last year.
The expected number of returns was arrived at by using last year's submission numbers and information from employers gleaned from IRP5 forms.
The e-Filing deadline for provisional taxpayers to submit their returns is January 31.
SARS explained that the number of payments made into fraudulent accounts was significantly reduced as a result of the increased security and user authentication, including the introduction of e-DNA and improved security of personal information.