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Turns out dodging tax isn’t as glamorous as some folks think – just ask Cape Town businesswoman Fiona Mutongwizo, who found herself and her company squarely in the crosshairs of the Bellville Magistrate’s Court.
After stacking up a neat little collection of 12 counts for failing to submit income tax returns to SARS, the gavel finally came down – though not as brutally as her accountant probably feared.
According to Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Zinzi Hani, Mutongwizo, 39, and her company played a game of hide-and-seek with SARS between 2022 and 2024, IOL reported. However, in the end, they lost.
Mutongwizo didn’t even put up a fight. She pleaded guilty to the whole lot, both for herself and her business. No arguments, no clever accounting gymnastics, just straight-up guilt.
For each of the 12 counts, the company was slapped with a R6,000 fine, but the court decided to play nice, suspending the whole sum for five years on the condition that they finally start adulting and filing on time.
As for Mutongwizo herself? The court hit her with a matching R6,000 fine or 12 months’ jail time per count. But – plot twist – R2,000 or six months of that sentence was suspended for five years, provided she doesn’t pull a disappearing act on SARS again.
The grand total? A wallet-bruising R48,000, although SARS isn’t rushing her for the full amount in one go.
“An amount of R5,000 is payable immediately upon the date of sentence,” said Hani.
“The payment of the balance of R43,000 is deferred and to be paid in monthly instalments of R2,150.”
And, no, this isn’t the kind of debit order you want to forget about. Each instalment must land on the Clerk of the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on or before the 1st of every month, with the final payment wrapping things up by January 2, 2027.
Here’s the moral of the story: if navigating SARS’ endless deadlines, payment dates, and income declaration fine print feels like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded, you might want to get the pros involved *before* the Hawks start making house calls.
Local tax wizards Galbraith & Rushby are the crew you call when you’d rather stay on SARS’ good side. From compliance and planning to untangling the hairball that is VAT, their experts will make sure your taxes are spot-on and stress-free.
So, before your “admin pile” turns into a court date, get Galbraith & Rushby on the line. They’ll help you get comfy with SARS’ relentless requirements – because, like it or not, those deadlines wait for no one.
[Source: IOL]
