BONUS - RUSTENBURG - The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is committed to assist taxpayers to fulfil their legal obligations.
Taxpayers who owe tax debt may often find it difficult to settle their debt due to financial challenges. SARS has various mechanisms to collect outstanding debt and to explore this matter further.
They recently met with Recognised Controlling Bodies (RCBs) to look at various ways in which taxpayers can be assisted to pay their debt. At this meeting, the parties discussed the Debt Compromise provision as provided for in Part D of the Tax Administration Act, which may be considered under certain circumstances.
SARS agreed with RCBs to launch an Expedited Tax Debt Process to recover debt rapidly within the provisions of the Tax Administration Act. The normal debt-compromise process remains open to all taxpayers.
SARSwill apply the learnings of the rapid compromise process to enhance the compromise process to benefit all taxpayers.
A dedicated single point of entry will be made available for applications from Monday, 13 October. Although this tax-debt compromise process will start with RCBs, depending on the results, SARS may later consider it for all taxpayers.
SARS will communicate this expedited debt compromise process widely, and invite RCBs to collaborate on such awareness sessions, webinars, and targeted communication to facilitate widespread understanding of the process. Dedicated account teams and technical resources, including online appointment systems for tax practitioners, have been activated to support the process and resolve operational challenges.
Key features of the initiative
* The expedited compromise process applies to non-disputed tax debts older than 12 months
* Entities currently undergoing final CIPC deregistration, those subject to criminal investigation, and those in business rescue are excluded
* All applicants must provide accurate supporting documentation with their submissions - if not, SARS may not consider such applications
* Tax practitioners registered with the RCBs can guide taxpayer clients on the requirements for the debt compromise, including supporting documents required in line with Part D of Chapter 14 of the Tax Administration Act
* SARS commits to resolve qualifying applications within four weeks
* For taxpayers who remain non-compliant and those not forming part of the compromise process, SARS will revert to normal enforcement actions against non-compliant taxpayers that will include writs of execution of court judgments.
* Visit sars.gov.za for more.
