The investigation by the tax ombud into tax refunds will determine whether the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has been withholding refunds to boost tax revenue artificially. Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas has given tax ombud Judge Bernard Ngoepe the go-ahead to investigate. Tax practitioners have raised a red flag over delays in the payment of tax refunds for some time, but SARS strongly rejects the allegations that it is doing this deliberately. It has also denied claims that its administrative deficiencies contributed to the R30bn shortfall in tax revenue in the 2016-17 fiscal year. Concern about the shortfall was raised by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a briefing ahead of his budget speech in the National Assembly and he has had engagements with senior SARS executives about the matter. The tax ombud has seen a spike in complaints about delayed payment of tax refunds by SARS, which CEO Eric Mkhawane said on Tuesday represented about 50% of all complaints. This wa...
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