Pick your battles carefully in tax season: expert advice
SARS is a stickler for documentation and a tardy payer, so don’t claim unless your records are complete, and don’t overpay unless you’re prepared to wait for your refund
The start of this year’s tax filing season is around the corner, and for those who have not been diligent with their recordkeeping, things are going to become messy from now on. The South African Revenue Service has been quite vigilant in requesting supporting documentation whenever there is the possibility of a refund. Patricia Williams, partner at law firm Bowmans, says as a general rule she recommends that people have proper schedules of all expenses, deductions or other allowances claimed. "In other words do not simply use estimates," she says. If a taxpayer has proper schedules, "If and when there is a query from SARS, there will be a good starting point for dealing with the query." It is also often better to walk away from a tax deduction if you do not have the necessary supporting documentation. It is better than spending the time, effort and cost of dealing with a dispute that may arise, says Williams, who is also a member of the tax administration committee of the South Afr...
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