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Eskom may not be able to keep the lights on, and Telkom is, well, Telkom, and the South African Post Office is still delivering letters sent early last year, but underestimate SARS at your peril.

There was a time under former president Jacob Zuma when it was intentionally sabotaged from the inside, but those days have come and gone.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter has made it clear that tax rogues are in the crosshairs, ranging from non-compliant individuals to illicit cigarette producers.

Moneyweb spoke with tax guru Jashwin Baijoo, who said that recent evidence backs up the tough talk from Kieswetter:

“It almost seems as though the revenue authority is warming up to truly deal with delinquency.”

“Following through with the prosecution of offenders has shown that actions speak louder than words, with numerous investigations into non-compliance, spanning from high-net worth individuals to the illicit cigarette industry, resulting in convictions and sanctions,” says Baijoo.

Just imagine if Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was our president. Renowned tobacco smuggler Adriano Mazzotti would be loving life.

Instead, we have a situation where our tax revenue has increased and people and businesses are turning to tax experts to ensure they are in compliance.

What’s important, stresses Kieswetter, is that South Africans know “no stone [will remain] unturned in ensuring that those involved in criminal behaviour are dealt with harshly”.

“We regard the overwhelming majority of taxpayers as honest and willing to comply,” said Kieswetter [below]…

Image: Esa Alexander/Sunday Times

However, he warned that “wilful and criminal non-compliance from whatever source, will not be tolerated”.

“SARS will use every legal instrument at its disposal to make it hard and costly for such taxpayers and traders.”

This year, there have already been multiple raids on residences belonging to a well-known cigarette supplier in Durban, an auction of goods from an electrical contracting company that failed to pay taxes for two years, and the targeting of the practice of two diagnostic radiologists who were R52 million in arrears.

Business must have been booming.

SARS says it gets its intel from the crafty use of data mining, with data sources including banks, retirement funds, the properties deeds office, and the national register of motor vehicles,

International data sources include the automatic exchange of information on South Africans with off-shore financial assets from about 100 foreign jurisdictions, as well as several mutual administrative agreements with sister organisations.

People have also been nailed due to boasting about their wealth on social media.

More money than sense has never rung more true.

Baijoo advises that ensuring compliance comes first. Failing that, make sure you have someone fighting in your corner:

“Where you find yourself on the wrong side of SARS, there is a first-mover advantage in seeking the appropriate tax advice and ensuring the necessary steps are taken to protect both yourself and your bank balance from paying the price for what could be the smallest of mistakes…

“As a rule of thumb, any and all correspondence received from SARS should be immediately addressed, preferably by a qualified tax specialist or tax attorney. This will not only serve to safeguard the taxpayer against Sars implementing collection measures, but the taxpayer will also be correctly advised on the most appropriate solution to ensure their tax compliance,” he adds.

We like to avoid such complications and with Galbraith | Rushby handling everything, we know SARS won’t come knocking with any bad news.

This also means they can dedicate their time and energy to nailing those illicit cigarette traders.

Go get ’em.

[source:moneyweb]