Crackdown on tax dodgers
Tax relief in budget will be mitigated with better collection — at least, that's the plan
Cracking down on companies that are not paying their dues is one measure the South African Revenue Service (Sars) is taking to increase the tax take. If effective, it will go some way to mitigating the impact of no tax increases in this week's budget.Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter said this week in an interview with Business Times: "Our view is before we fiddle with tax rates we must look to address the criminal activities and proliferating value added tax fraud and customs under-declaration."Kieswetter's view is that most people are honest and want to pay their taxes - so the compliance model on which he is rebuilding Sars aims to give certainty to taxpayers on what they owe, make it easier to pay, and put in place a credible threat of deterrence.A big concern is the very low level of compliance on PAYE - where companies don't file returns or pay over to Sars the tax they have collected from their employees. With personal income tax contributing more than a third of the ...
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