The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Tuesday urged businesses who owe taxes “to come forward via the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) to avoid criminal prosecution and the more stringent penalties associated with forced compliance”.
This comes as the tax collector announced a crackdown – using random on-site “compliance checks to identify registration‚ filing non-compliance and thus flag any suspicious businesses” - targeting concerns in the “cash & carry sector”.
“This effort is part of the new focused approach‚ launched in December 2015‚ to combat non-compliance in several high-risk sectors‚ starting with the cash & carry sector‚” a Sars statement said.
The Sars statement‚ however‚ also warned: “Depending on the intention and severity of the non-compliance‚ SARS can impose stringent penalties on all taxes owed for the period a business should have been registered and filing.
“In some cases‚ negligent taxpayers will face criminal prosecution.”
“Sars believes in supporting those that try to comply. If you are not compliant‚ you should take the opportunity to put your tax affairs in order. This can be done through the VDP; the consequences will be less severe than if Sars establishes the non-compliance‚” said commissioner Tom Moyane.
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