How do you Resist an Objection from SARS?
SARS is afforded a discretion in the various tax acts which impower them to make decisions. Not all of these decisions are subject to objection and appeal. How to resist an objection from SARS? Examples include:
- A decision not to issue a reduced assessment in terms of section 93 of the TAA
- A decision not to issue a tax clearance certificate/pin;
- A decision not to grant suspension of payment pending objection and appeal;
- A decision not to grant VDP relief; and
- A decision to disallow an objection.
The list above is not exhaustive and can go on for pages. If you are not happy with the decision but you cannot object, what do you do? You can consider litigation, perhaps an application in the High Court under the Promotion of Administrative Act to have SARS’ decision reviewed? Alternatively, you may also consider launching a section 9 review application. Section 9 of the TAA allow taxpayers to request SARS to review their decision internally. Since this is not litigation it is normally, depending on the facts, a more effective and much cheaper way of dealing with an adverse decision against a taxpayer that is not subject to objection and appeal.
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.
