By the numbers: SARS Tax Season

28 November 2016 - 12:16 By TMG Digital

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) said on Monday that it paid out “an astounding R15.5-billion in tax refunds” to 1.98-million taxpayers by the end of tax season.It also said that it has “imposed penalties to the value of R1.64-billion on defaulting taxpayers” by the season deadline for non-provisional taxpayers last Friday.“Taxpayers that have not submitted their returns are urged to do so immediately‚” spokesperson Sandile Memela said.Other statistics released by SARS include:SARS received 5.74-million returns by the close of tax season;4.16 -million submissions by individuals for the 2015/16 tax year;47 000 submissions by trusts for 2015/16 tax year;1.52 million returns for previous tax years from individuals and trusts;The SARS Contact Centre handled more than 3.6-million calls;The SARS branch offices assisted more than 5.1-million taxpayers;SARS processed 99.9% of all returns electronically;92.4% of tax returns were assessed within three seconds;93.28% of refunds were paid to taxpayers within 72 hours;173 000 taxpayers made use of the Help You e-File channel which is 15% higher than in 2015; and44 373 made use SARS’ mobile application to submit their 2016 tax returns...

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