Taxpayers fume as SARS sits on refunds, asks them to jump through extra hoops
TAXPAYERS’ anger and frustration with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) due to its decision to withhold refunds, even legitimate ones, is growing.While the Office of the Tax Ombud has apparently received only "a few complaints", the controlling bodies of tax practitioners have issued statements emphasizing grave concerns about the apparent lack of procedural fairness.SARS said it became aware of "a number of cases" where criminal activity resulted in profiles being "maliciously" used and bank details being changed. This was detected "during the early phases" of the 2016 filing season, which started in July.This resulted in refunds being withheld.The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) says taxpayers’ frustration stems from "deferral procedures" that do not seem to adhere to standard procedures.This has resulted in multiple requests for verification documents, journals being passed to negate refunds, multiple requests for bank detail confirmations, and ref...
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