South African Tax Amnesty Applicants May Apply For Filing Extension

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

29 June 2004

South African taxpayers fearful of missing the July 9 tax filing deadline whilst they await a decision from the country’s tax amnesty unit will be able to apply for a filing extension, it has emerged.

Around 8,500 taxpayers concerned about revealing still undeclared offshore assets submitted their tax returns directly to the Amnesty Unit last year.

However, processing of the amnesty applications has been slow, and a number of these taxpayers are unlikely to know if they have been successful before the July 8 deadline.

As a result, those who do not want to file their 2003/2004 returns direct to the South Africa Revenue Service may apply to the Amnesty Unit for a filing extension, a spokesman confirmed in reports.

Up to the end of the amnesty on February 29 this year, the unit had received almost 43,000 applications, only 5,000 of which have so far been processed.

The applications are being dealt with on a first come, first served basis and it is highly unlikely that the backlog will be cleared in time for the tax filing deadline, despite the hiring of extra processing staff.

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