Mpisane asked SARS for help to ensure compliance, court heard

Businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane asked tax officials to help her make sure she was tax compliant, the Durban Regional Court heard on Thursday.

Mpisane told the court she asked the SA Revenue Services (Sars) to look into her cleaning company's books in 2008 because business had picked up and it was growing.

"I needed people with knowledge of how to run books of Zikhulise," she said.

Mabongi Flora-Junior "Shauwn" Mpisane is accused of inflating invoices by more than R5 million to cut her tax bill. She is also accused of violating the Close Corporations Act by remaining the sole member of Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport CC when she had a previous fraud conviction. She has pleaded not guilty.

The court is holding a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of evidence submitted by the State. It has submitted as evidence 148 invoices obtained from Mpisane during Sars's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process.

Under Sars legislation, any information provided during this process is confidential.

Mpisane said she asked Sars for help after her husband Sbu, a metro police officer, came under media scrutiny in 2008 because of his lifestyle. Sars had wanted to audit him.

Mpisane said she asked Sars to check whether she was tax compliant for the period 2003 to 2007, because the 2008 financial results were not ready. She said Sars had recommended some auditing companies, but that the auditing firm SAB&T was available.

It recommended that she have an in-house auditor as her company was growing. An accountant who had just completed his articles was assigned to audit Mpisane's company.

Mpisane criticised Sars for using information she had volunteered to prosecute her. Sars officials handed the matter to the National Prosecuting Authority.

The trial continues.