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. 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.