Construction project management is said to be one of the most challenging and one of the most rewarding professions in the built environment.
Scrutiny of the sector has increased after revelations emerged of fraudulent billing and cartel activity related to the World Cup.
A senior Sars official said that the bulk of the companies being pursued legally were emerging or small firms, because larger construction companies chose to settle out of court.
"For the larger companies there are public image concerns, so they tend to settle before the matter gets to court," the source said.
Sars had flagged the construction sector as the least compliant sector in the formal economy at least two years before the release of the findings of the Competition Commission's investigation into, mainly, World Cup projects.
In the 2010-2011 fiscal year alone the construction sector generally had R4.7-billion in outstanding tax debt.
In April last year, Sars launched a compliance programme identifying seven key areas on which it would be focusing in the next four years, including the construction industry.
Sars has focused its attention on firms that have state contracts because of noncompliance and monitoring concerns.
In its medium-term expenditure framework, the government has budgeted R844.5-billion for public infrastructure in energy, transport, water, telecoms and housing.
One of the main problems Sars has identified is that tax compliance certificates, which are required in order to qualify for tenders, weren't checked again once the project had started. This meant that there was no pressure on small firms to retain their tax compliance, and many were no longer compliant while still fulfilling their government contract.
The biggest contraventions were in the area of tax (56.4%), corporate income tax (22.17%) and pay-as-you-earn tax (20.84%).
Currently, 88 firms that received state tenders are being audited.
Audits of small and medium companies in the construction sector have revealed outstanding tax amounting to R479-million.
Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay said a lack of compliance in the construction sector was "fairly widely spread" but Sars was working with various organisations to improve compliance, including the Construction Industry Development Board, the National Home Builders Registration Council and the Master Builders of South Africa.
It was felt, particularly by the master builders, that a lack of education was a problem.
In July, the presidential infrastructure co-ordinating commission said infrastructure projects to the value of R750-billion were under way as part of the national infrastructure plan.
The commission said it was considering a 30-year plan that would take infrastructure projects beyond the current R4.3-trillion plan.