That SARS Alert Might Not Be Real
Tax season brings a predictable spike in SARS scams. When scrolling through your emails or messages, there’s a good chance a notification claiming to be from SARS is already waiting for you, whether it’s a tax refund you never filed for, or an urgent settlement demand designed to trigger panic. Four types of scams usually […]
Scammers posing as SARS officials are on the rise
In late August 2020, a large credit bureau in South Africa was the target of a data breach where millions of private individual and company data records were compromised. This data leakage, coupled with the tax filing season, makes for the perfect opportunity for taxpayers’ information to be abused, subjecting taxpayers to potential financial loss. Scammers thrive on the inherent vulnerability of taxpayers during the tax season and know how to capitalise on the taxpayers’ struggles in dealing with […]
SARS’ power to appoint a bank as a collecting agent
In SIP Project Managers (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (29 April 2020), the Gauteng Division of the High Court ruled against SARS on the appointment of a third-party (Standard Bank, in this case) to collect tax debts from taxpayers’ accounts. The matter was an application for declaratory relief against SARS for such an appointment to be set aside […]
2019 Tax Season: Are you ready?
SARS recently released two media statements, in which it notes several improvements made to eFiling for the 2019 tax season, including the issue of customised notices indicating specific documents required in the event of an audit or verification and a simulated outcome issued before a taxpayer has filed.What is the tax season? Tax season is […]