Tax Refunds
A taxpayer was assessed to a tax refund (corporate income tax) in respect of its 2017 year of assessment in the amount of roughly R8m and in respect of its 2018 year of assessment in the amount of roughly R6m. The 2018 year of assessment was under audit. The 2017 refund came about in a reduced assessment consequent upon a successful dispute process. SARS refused to release the 2017 refund on the basis of the 2018 audit. The taxpayer formally requested the 2017 refund. This was rejected by SARS on the basis of the ongoing 2018 audit.
The approach adopted and which resulted in payment by SARS not only of the 2017 refund but also (for some reason) the 2018 refund (despite the fact that the audit was still ongoing at the time and despite the fact no request was made for payment of this refund) was to launch a formal review application of SARS’ decision not to pay the refund, putting SARS to terms – five days. The review application was seemingly ignored. We subsequently launched a High Court application in pursuit of the refund. The matter never proceeded to trial. SARS conceded and paid the refund.
Our speciality practice area is tax dispute resolution. Our team is headed by Nico Theron (Chartered Tax Advisor (SA)), author of Lexis Nexis’ Practical Guide to Handling Tax Disputes, Chairman of the South African Institute of Tax Professionals Tax Administration Work Group, guest lecturer on tax dispute resolution at post grad level at UP and WITS, head lecturer on The Tax Faculty’s dispute resolution course and founder of Unicus Tax Academy. If you’re looking for expert tax consultants in South Africa, get in touch.
