SARS welcomes suspension of MONTHS long PSA, Nehawu strike

On Friday, 12 August, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) welcomed the decision of labour unions to suspend their strike.

PSA and Nehawu suspended their industrial action

The Public Servants Association (PSA) suspended its industrial action on 20 July 2022 while the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) suspended its strike on 08 August 2022.

“In light of this announcement by the two unions, striking employees are back at work and SARS operations, including trade facilitation at our borders, is continuing as usual. The suspension of the industrial action affords all parties the opportunity to work towards progressing the negotiations and related discussions towards settling the dispute,”

SARS said

SARS noted that a follow-up discussion and the National Bargaining process will soon be scheduled to continue engagements.

The unions handed a list of demands over to Kieswetter

The Citizen reported that as many as 18 SARS branches in SA were closed during the day at the height of the action. Taxpayers were urged to make use of the online services to avoid visiting branches.

A list of demands was tabled before commissioner Edward Kieswetter. The demands have been at the centre of the standoff and include:

• Adjustment of salaries, using last October’s consumer price index of 4.5% and 7%, across the board for employees within the bargaining unit;
• A full, equal medical aid and housing allowance for all employees;
• Introduction of Covid pandemic leave of 10 working days per annum;
• A R2 000 gift (token of appreciation) to be extended to employees aged 60 to 65 years and;
• Pay progression – an upwards of 1.5% annual adjustment on the applicable pay band where the employee has met the required performance standard.

SARS victorious in Capitec legal battle – wins over R71m

In other SARS-related news, it was previously reported that a long-running legal battle between the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and Capitec Bank has come to an end. SARS came out victorious with the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) certifying its appeal against a judgement that Acting Judge Frederick Sievers handed down at the Cape Town Tax Court.

The SCA’s ruling means that SARS is now able to prevent Capitec from claiming back R71.5 million VAT return from November 2017.

In 2018, SARS issued a VAT assessment that disallowed the R71.5 million claimed by Capitec as a tax deduction for November 2017. The basis for the decision was that it did not qualify for a deduction in terms of the country’s VAT act. Read the full story here.