Month: May 2023

19 May 2023- The Commissioner of South African Revenue Service (SARS) Mr Edward Kieswetter welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court of 17 May 2023 to dismiss the application for leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal verdict by the African Global Holding (Pty) Ltd (AGH).

The matter arose from the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal which upheld the appeal by liquidators and purchasers of assets, which opposed an earlier High Court decision that set aside the auction of the property of AGH. It should be noted that a cross appeal had also been noted against the decision to not put the company into business rescue.

Read the full statement here.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Media statement on the African Global Holding

19 May 2023 – The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS), Mr Edward Kieswetter, said he was pleased to note the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal on 18 May 2023 in the matter of Commissioner for SARS v Regiments Regiments Capital (Pty) Ltd and Others.

Several parties, with an “interest” in Regiments brought an application to set aside Regiments’ liquidation. SARS intervened and opposed the setting aside of Regiments’ liquidation; however, the High Court made a decision to, inter alia, set aside Regiment’s liquidation.

Read the full statement here.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Media statement on the judgment in the Regiments Capital matter

18 May 2023 – In the 2023 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced the following tax relief measures in an effort to address the current load-shedding problem the country is facing:

“Government implemented the diesel refund system in 2000, to provide full or partial relief for the general fuel levy and the RAF levy to primary sectors. The refund system is in place for the farming, forestry, fishing, and mining sectors. In light of the current electricity crisis, a similar refund on the RAF levy for diesel used in the manufacturing process (such as for generators) will be extended to the manufacturers of foodstuffs. This will take effect from 1 April 2023, with refund payments taking place once the system is developed and will be in place for two years until 31 March 2025. This relief is implemented to limit the impact of power cuts on food prices.”

SARS will administer the new refund to the extent of 80% of the RAF levy for diesel purchased for use and used in the manufacturing of foodstuffs through the DA66 Excise Refund System. The currently manual DA66 process will be automated in the last quarter of 2023 and is separate from the diesel refund system that is administered through the VAT system by way of submitting VAT 201 returns.

For more information, see the letter to stakeholders.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Excise – Clarity on the extension of the Diesel Refund to manufacturers of foodstuffs

17 May 2023 – SARS will be distributing a survey to taxpayers with disabilities. The survey results will assist to understand their views and to help SARS improve on its processes. If unsure whether communication from SARS is legit, see the Current Surveys, SMSs and Emails webpage.

Source: SARS Tariffs
SARS survey is legit

15 May 2023 – Invitation to webinar on Third-Party Appointment and Employer Reconciliation on 18 May 2023.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) invites employers to a webinar on Third-Party Appointment and Employer Reconciliation for 2023.

A Third-Party Appointment is an official instruction from SARS to a taxpayer’s employer or fund manager to deduct admin penalties owed to SARS. Employers can use the e@syFile channel to carry out that instruction according to the SARS directive.

The aim of the webinar is to educate employers on the process mentioned above, and how to submit the employer reconciliation. This is in line with our strategic objectives of providing taxpayers with clarity and certainty, as well as making it easy for them to comply with their tax obligations.

As an important stakeholder, we invite you to join the webinar, and to extend the invitation to other interested parties.

The following topics will be covered:

• Employer Reconciliation on e@syFile and eFiling
• Third-Party Appointments on e@syFile
• PAYE Admin Penalties
• Troubleshooting and Frequently asked Questions

The details of the webinar are as follows:

• Theme:  Third-Party Appointment
• Date: Thursday, 18 May 2023
• Time: 17:00 – 19:00
• Platforms: (Virtual) Zoom and YouTube
• Register in advance for this webinar on the following link: https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mN5PHJfuQS6ngMSB9iz-fg
• Meeting ID: 951 3206 8324
• Passcode: 695872

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log in to the webinar, for an opportunity to have your questions answered during the session. The webinar will also be recorded and published on the SARSTV YouTube channel afterwards.

Or watch it live via our SARSTV YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUCbhGV01dY

 

Source: SARS Tariffs
Webinar on Third-Party Appointment and Employer Reconciliation

12 May 2023 – Mobile tax services for Mpumalanga province during May to June 2023 have been published. See the schedules here.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Mobile Tax Units and Tax Workshops

11 May 2023 – The May 2023 edition of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) Connect newsletter is now available.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Latest SMME Connect Newsletter

11 May 2023 – SARS is committed to paying legitimate refunds to qualifying taxpayers as and when they become due. In line with this commitment in the 2022/23 financial year a record R381bn in refunds were paid of which R319bn were VAT refunds.

SARS has noticed a trend of suspicious registrations by VAT vendors. In the month of April, specifically, we saw a significant spike that required us to conduct an urgent review of our registration process. A key strategic objective and design principle of our administration platform is to provide ease of registration. This must be balanced with the risk of abuse and attempts by individuals to obtain a VAT number and claim fraudulent refunds.  We were alerted by our sophisticated risk engine that there was an unusual increase in the number of registrations, all of which were suspicious.

See the full media statement here.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Media release – SARS detects unusually high number of suspicious VAT registrations

10 May 2023 – SARS Procurement policy documents have been revised.

• SS-PROC-01 – SARS Supply Chain Management – External Policy
• SS-PROC-03 – SARS Preferential Procurement – External Policy

Source: SARS Tariffs
SARS Procurement Policy

8 May 2023 – Bulk and additional payments have been updated on eFiling. The following has changed:

The Payment Reference Number (PRN) that comes through admin penalty for the bulk payment will be rejected if it is processed incorrectly –

• • When the zeroes (0) or just a nine (9) are being used for admin penalty (the ITPEN), it will be rejected as the zeroes (0) can be used only for PAYE and Assessed tax.
  • A rule for Admin Penalty (ITPEN) has been added in the guide.

See the updated Guide to Bulk and additional payments on eFiling here.

Source: SARS Tariffs
Bulk payments on eFiling