SARS dishes out over R62 billion in refunds
Hands up if you’ve received a return…
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has already paid over R62.1bn in refunds to taxpayers by 2 October.
This was announced in a media release on Tuesday. According to SARS, the biggest chunk went to VAT refunds, totalling R49.8bn. Over R12 billion went to personal income tax returns.
Tax returns increased by 3.6% compared to the same period last year, with 2.7 million South Africans filing their papers.
The split between standing in the queue to file and using E-Filing was split at 50.9% compared to 49.28%.
Criminal proceedings for those who don’t file on time
SARS announced last week that criminal proceedings for tax offenders will be intensified from October.
The reason for the intended clampdown was an “increase in taxpayers not submitting their tax returns by the stipulated deadlines”, and not settling their outstanding debt with the revenue collection agency, SARS said in a statement.
This applied to all previous tax years, not just this year.
