SARS Tax

(Gallo Images / Sowetan / Elijar Mushiana)

SARS left R700 million short of revenue collection target

Moyane’s legacy.

SARS Tax

(Gallo Images / Sowetan / Elijar Mushiana)

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has announced that SARS (South African Revenue Service) fell R700 million short of their tax revenue collection target for 2017.

The shortfall is a damning indictment of former commissioner Tom Moyane’s legacy. He was told to leave his position by Cyril Ramaphosa last month, amid a wave of corruption allegations levelled against him.

Alf Lees is the DA’s Shadow Deputy Minister of Finance. He made it very clear that Moyane has failed the public and made life a lot harder for the government:

“The South Africa Revenue Service’s failure to meet its revised revenue target by more than R700 million confirms the dearth of institutional governance at SARS and low taxpayer morality under Tom Moyane’s disastrous tenure as commissioner.”

“Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s announcement that SARS had collected R1.2166 trillion against a revised target of R1.2173 trillion exposes the ‘crisis of confidence’ that had crept into SARS and its ability to effectively manage revenue collection.”

“The government now has no other option but to close the gap of the R700 million shortfall through increased borrowings as it is unlikely that there will be additional expenditure savings to counter the revenue shortfall for the year ending 31st of March 2018.”

How much tax revenue did SARS collect in 2018?

According to City Press, SARS have stated that a total of R1.451 trillion has been collected in the last financial year. However, they have also had to dish out R234.3 billion’s worth of tax refunds.

That took their total net figure down to R1.2166 trillion. The Medium Term Budget Speech made in October 2017 targeted a collection of R1.2173 trillion, though. Given the chaos that has plagued the organisation recently, there were fears that the shortfall could have topped the R1 billion mark.

Mark Kingon is the current acting commissioner for SARS. He’s expected to find a suitable – if not, more dependable – replacement for Moyane to ensure that revenue collection is out of the red this time next year.