In a recent case[1], a taxpayer tried to defend himself against an assessment raised by SARS after the original assessment prescribed. The gist of the taxpayer’s defence, insofar relevant here, was that SARS was not allowed to have raised the assessment in question because the original assessment had prescribed and that SARS had not objectively…
The Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) recently released its 2020 Systemic Investigation Report in which the OTO published its findings regarding certain investigations the OTO conducted into SARS’s systems. One of the issues investigated was various areas of non-compliance by SARS with the rules that govern objections and appeals. Amongst the various findings by…
An individual taxpayer recently realised that he should have been assessed to a refund in respect of his 2017 year of assessment. This is associated with the so-called “183/60 day exemption”. Instead of a refund, SARS assessed the taxpayer to a liability. The trouble was that the assessment against which an objection lied was more…
Sun Tzu, author of the Art of War, was a Chinese General who is credited with imparting the wisdom of “knowing your enemy”. According to General Tzu, “if you know the enemy and yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”. In our experience, this rings true thousands of years after the…
How long can SARS take to process tax appeals? SARS is known for taking their time when it comes to processing appeals against assessments, especially if the appeal is not destined for litigation from the outset. Whilst there may be various reasons for these delays, the fact of the matter is that there are prescribed…
Tax objections drafted Few taxpayers, in our experience, fully appreciate the importance and gravity of the early stages of the tax dispute resolution process with SARS – the objection stage. Too often, we see that tax objections are drafted in haste “on the back of a cigarette box” and important, often case-wining arguments, omitted from…
SARS raises additional assessments all the time and for various reasons but mostly, an additional assessment, whether it be on VAT, income tax or PAYE is raised by SARS following an audit/verification. If a taxpayer is not satisfied with the assessment, the taxpayer can object against the additional assessment but has to do so within…
Tax Penalties on Companies On 14 December 2018, the public notice that allows the South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) to impose penalties on companies for not submitting income tax returns was gazette. This is a new addition to the legion of penalties already faced by companies and permits the imposition of a monthly penalty on…
The proposed changes to the Rules of the Tax Court (“the Rules’) promulgated under section 103 of the Tax Administration Act No, 28 of 2011 (“TAA”) have been published and, have been met with a mixed reaction – in our office at least. Most of the changes are welcomed. One proposed change in is however,…
If SARS did something a taxpayer is aggrieved by, the taxpayer has limited time within which to take action. The general rule is, when it comes to a dispute between a taxpayer and SARS involving an assessment, that limited period is 30 days (at the time of drafting this article, there is a proposal by…
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