The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has failed to comply with legislation by unlawfully paying bonuses to staff without the approval of Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, the auditor-general has found. The conclusion is contained in the long-delayed SARS annual report, which will be tabled in Parliament on Thursday. A dispute over the bonus payments held up the tabling of the report. In the 2016-17 financial year SARS paid R561m in performance bonuses relating to the 2015-16 financial year, of which R3m was paid to members of the executive committee. DA deputy finance spokesman Alf Lees said that these bonuses were "unreasonable" and he would be asking questions about them. The auditor-general’s finding did not affect the overall audit opinion on SARS, which was not qualified. The auditor-general said the noncompliance represented a significant internal control deficiency that resulted in material noncompliance. "In line with section 18(3) of the SARS Amendment Act of 2002, [the] ...
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