CPD for SAICA members who are SARS tax practitioners

Two layers, one year of learning

SAICA's CPD Policy (Version 4.0, approved 28 March 2023) is clear on how the two obligations sit together. Paragraph 5.1 says that members registered with another regulator must satisfy both SAICA's requirements and the regulator's. Being a SAICA member does not replace your SARS obligations, and being a registered tax practitioner does not replace your SAICA obligations. Both apply, at the same time, for the same year.

In practice this is one year of learning viewed through two lenses, not two separate workloads. An activity you record on your reflective learning plan, a tax update course, an ethics session, a technical briefing on new legislation, can also count towards the 18 SARS hours, provided it fits the relevant category. Plan your year once, and let it satisfy both sets of obligations as you go.

Tax and related services are explicitly listed among the work that makes a SAICA member professionally active, so this overlap is expected rather than unusual. However, an activity counts towards the SARS 18-hour requirement only when it is structured learning with a measurable outcome and is objectively verifiable by a competent source with no direct or vested interest. Reading, mentoring or on-the-job learning may support the broader SAICA reflective plan, but it cannot be counted in the 18 verifiable hours without suitable independent evidence.

The 18 hour breakdown

SARS sets a minimum of 18 hours of CPD a year for registered tax practitioners, split across three categories. Each minimum applies on its own, so hours in one category cannot be used to make up a shortfall in another.

These thresholds are set by the regulator and can change. Confirm the current requirement with SARS or SAICA before you rely on it.

Records and the reflective plan

Tax practitioners keep their CPD records for five years. That is longer than the three calendar years an ordinary SAICA member keeps a reflective learning plan for, so if you hold both statuses, plan to keep the longer, five year record.

Your SAICA obligations do not fall away because you also report to SARS. The reflective learning plan still applies, including the compulsory annual reflection on ethical values and attitudes. Keep the plan and the SARS hour record together, so that either regulator can see a complete picture of your year if asked.

SAICA monitors tax-practitioner CPD records and related evidence. For the 18-hour requirement, keep independent proof such as a completion certificate, a third-party-confirmed attendance record, or a letter or email from a competent third party confirming the learning and your participation. Personal notes can support your reflective plan, but notes alone are not independent evidence of verifiable tax-practitioner CPD.