SARS Acts Against Non-Compliant Taxpayers

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com, London

08 October 2007

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has continued to launch enforcement actions against taxpayers who have failed to submit their income tax returns.

Accoring to SARS, with assistance from the South African Police Service (SAPS) 3 people were recently arrested in Pretoria, on charges of contempt of court. Warrants for arrests were also issued for a further 26 individuals on similar charges in the Groenkloof and Garsfontein areas of Pretoria.

The contempt of court charges relate to cases where taxpayers have outstanding returns but have failed to appear in court to be charged, and the arrests form part of various enforcement initiatives which are part of SARS’s 2007 Filing Season campaign.

In addition to the arrests, SARS will also serving more than 500 summonses on taxpayers across the country who have outstanding returns. The summonses are legal warnings for taxpayers to appear in court on a particular date to face charges of non-submission of returns.

SARS has identified thousands of alleged multiple offenders across the country, who owe SARS more than 450,000 outstanding tax returns. While the Filing Season period traditionally focuses on extending services and assistance to taxpayers to complete their returns, a situation cannot continue where delinquent taxpayers are not brought to book.

So far, there have been 26 summonses in Cape Town, 30 in Port Elizabeth, 132 in Guateng and 350 in Durban. It is expected that many more will be made as these actions continue.

The deadline for the submission of income tax returns is 31 October 2007.

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