Dear fellow taxpayer,

Believe it or not, SARS doesn’t want your money.

Since 1 November, SARS began phasing out cash payments at some of its branch offices. And it’s set to continue the roll-out of cash-free offices over the next few months.

Why? Because of the mounting costs and risks of handling cash. And because it doesn’t really get many cash payments anymore.

SARS wants you to pay via eFiling and Internet banking. You can still pay SARS with cash, but you’ll have to make your payments directly into SARS’ account at a bank branch. Which means a lot of bank queues for you…
On the plus side, these payment methods allow you to keep an accurate, electronic record of payments you make.

The phase out has already started at offices in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Offices in the Free State, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Western Cape will follow in February 2010. And finally, the Gauteng offices will see the change from 1 April 2010.

Good to know, since the proposed Tax Administration Bill draft calls for better tax administration.
It also proposes a few other changes to tax law, and one in particular got me hot and bothered!

Are SARS’ proposed new rules breaking the law?

SARS recently released the draft Tax Administration Bill for public comment. One of the changes gives SARS officials the power to conduct a ‘search and seizure’ without a warrant.
Do we really want to hand this kind of power over to the taxman? And isn’t this unconstitutional, given that South Africans have the right to privacy?

I raved to Ettiene about this when he popped into our office yesterday. “It’s all about balance,” he said. Yes, South African citizens do enjoy the right to privacy. But not when that privacy allows them to defraud the state! SARS is simply trying to stop suspected fraudsters from destroying their documents on the sly, before SARS can get a look at them during an investigation.

 “This proposed change carries very distinct requirements,” explained Ettiene. Firstly, it’s not just any SARS employee who can come knocking on your door, demanding you hand over your documents. Only senior SARS officials will have this power.

What’s more, SARS will only exercise this right if it believes you’re going to destroy your records and documents before it can get a warrant the regular way.  But, in this case, SARS will have to prove that it has reasonable grounds to do this. And, it must then get the search warrant within 24 hours of the search and seizure.

“So it’s not all doom and gloom!” as Ettiene puts it…

Until next time,

Fulvia Becatti
Managing Editor | Practical Tax Handbook