SARS gets heavy-handed with taxpayers over debts — but is flouting its own rules
Taxpayers are getting legal threats when they still have objections pending. The Tax Ombud says as this is a systemic issue, taxpayers can go straight to the ombud
Several taxpayers have received threats from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) that they are facing legal action because their tax payments are in arrears. However, it appears many of these taxpayers have filed objections to the assessments issued by SARS. The objections were also accompanied by applications for the suspension of payment until the disputes were settled. SARS acting spokesman Sicelo Mkosi says once a suspension has been applied for, its processes do not allow for collection steps to proceed until 10 days after SARS has notified the taxpayer of the result of the suspension request. “If taxpayers are receiving final demands in this period, that is incorrect. Such examples should be escalated to SARS via the SARS complaints process so that SARS can rectify the situation,” he said. Tax practitioners have raised concern that SARS does not comply with the 60-day timeframe allowed for responses to objections. When the lack of response is queried by e-mail to the SARS...
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