Legal and Policy - 27 October 2022

SARS:

• 26 October 2022 – Due to ongoing maintenance, eFiling may be intermittently unavailable on Friday, 28 October 2022, between 18:00 and 23:00. Our apologies for any inconvenience.
• 26 October 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) welcomes the consistent emphasis by the Minister of Finance, Mr Enoch Godongwana, on ensuring that government finances are spent in an equitable, efficient and flexible manner to support South Africa’s development objectives.

The Minister’s policy message focused on strengthening South Africa’s fiscal integrity over the medium term through managing the county’s finances with prudence. The work of SARS is central in that efficient tax revenue collections contribute to the fiscal space required to attend to important social and investment spending priorities whilst keeping an eye on debt service costs.

Delivering the Medium-Term Budget Policy statement (MTBPS) in Parliament today, the Minister of Finance increased the revenue collection estimate that SARS must collect to R1682bn from R1 598bn. SARS provides about 90 percent of all government revenue, which makes this increase in the revenue to be collected by SARS very significant.

“As SARS, we accept the challenge of the revised higher revenue estimate. While the revised revenue estimate is steep, we are committed to act according to what is permissible in law to meet this challenge.” SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said.

See the full media statement here.

• 26 October 2022 – Thank you for submitting your income tax return on time. Filing Season for non-provisional taxpayers is now closed. The deadline for Provisional taxpayers is 23 January 2023. Not sure if you are a provisional taxpayer? See the provisional tax definition here.
• 26 October 2022 – The SARS Uitenhage branch will be permanently closed from 29 October. Staff will continue to service taxpayers on an appointment basis at the Corkwood Square Mall, shop 57, 42 Union avenue Uitenhage. Click here to make an appointment.
• 26 October 2022 – The Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana, delivers the 2022 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament today. The Minister increased the revenue estimate in anticipation of better-than-expected revenue collections to R1 682 billion from R1 598 billion. See the Budget speech and the rest of the documents here.
• 25 October 2022 – The latest scam via email is purporting to be from SARS, masking as a SARS notice with a link to a ‘court order’ – please ignore and do not click on any links. To see an example of this scam, see our Scams and Phishing webpage.
• 25 October 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods
• 24 October 2022 – The November 2022 Mobile Tax Unit Schedules for Northern Cape and Free State are now available.
• 24 October 2022 – Taxpayer education schedules for October, November and December taking place at the SARS Pretoria CBD branch now available.
• 24 October 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) invites you to a comprehensive Tariff Determination webinar that aims to educate you in order to increase your compliance in line with Customs and Excise procedures.

Customs and Excise Traders and Travellers are expected to understand the tariff determinations process to comply with the Customs and Excise Acts. The webinar will afford, SARS the opportunity to provide clarity on the process of tariff determination by equipping taxpayers and traders with the relevant information and insight required to make it easy to comply with their tax obligations.

As an important stakeholder, we invite you to join us in this webinar and to extend this invitation to other interested parties.

Webinar details:

Theme: Tariff Determination Process

Date: Thursday, 27 October 2022
Time: 17:00 – 19:00
Platforms: Zoom and YouTube

Register in advance for this webinar on the following link:

https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/j/99874227891?pwd=dFN0dkROa1J2NlZ1dmxFaWdveHhHQT09

Webinar ID: 998 7422 7891
Passcode: 213514

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log in to the webinar.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/TtXDAI9WMes

If you have questions about Tariff Determination, please email Tariffquestions@sars.gov.za

• 24 October 2022 – RFP08/2022: SARS technical security modernisation tender for the procurement including maintenance of

Stream 1: Modernised CCTV system and licence plate recognition system (including maintenance for a period of three years)

Stream 2: Centralised access control system solution (including maintenance for a period of three years)

Stream 3: Modernised alarm system solution (including maintenance for a period of three years)

• 24 October 2022 – Filing season for non-provisional taxpayers closes at midnight tonight, 24 October. Avoid penalties and interest. Don’t miss the deadline.

NATIONAL TREASURY:

• MTBPS 2022
• Joint Media Statement: Appointment of Chief Ombud of the Ombud Council – 20 October 2022

SAFLII:

• Commissioner of the South Africa Revenue Service: In re: Cyril and Another v Additional Magistrate, Magistrates Court for the Region of Alexander and Another (28948/2020) [2022] ZAGPJHC 830 (25 October 2022)
• Mobile Telephone Networks (Pty) Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (805/2021) [2022] ZASCA 142 (24 October 2022)

• Nesongozwi v Commissioner for SARS (838/2021) [2022] ZASCA 138 (24 October 2022)