Finance Minister Trevor Manuel commended the staff of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) for having exceeded the revenue target for the last tax year.
He was speaking on Thursday at the launch of Sars’s 2008 filing season.
”When I speak to my international colleagues, they can’t match the figures,” he said, praising what he called ”the quality of our public service”.
The commissioner of Sars, Pravin Gordhan, also addressed the launch, stressing that while the 2007 tax year had had numerous successes, there had also been challenges.
In 2007, approximately 600 000 returns had been sent back to taxpayers due to incomplete and incorrect information.
Approximately 400 000 returns did not match information from third parties — such as employers — while approximately 150 000 returns were flagged for further investigation.
Over 150 000 refunds could not be paid because bank details had not been supplied or could not be verified.
Sars’s 2008 filing season will for the first time place specific emphasis on the central role of employers in the personal income tax system, Gordhan said.
For 2008, changes would be introduced that would impact on the legal obligation of employers who administer payroll taxes such as Paye, UIF, Site and SDL.
”These changes will affect the way in which employers submit their annual Paye declarations to Sars which must reflect deductions made from the salary of employees and whether these have been paid to Sars on behalf of employees.”
For 2008, Sars would introduce to the Paye system a simplified reconciliation process based on the policy of declaration and acceptance of such a declaration by Sars.
From this year, employers had to take responsibility for ensuring reconciliation and providing proof of reconciliation to Sars.
Sars would assist employers by providing a custom-built software program free of charge.
When asked during a press briefing how much the software had cost, Gordhan said that the price was ”still a work in progress” but he assured the public that ”it’s all within the budget Parliament has given us”.
Sars advised employers from now until June 30 2008 to start preparing for the changes.
Companies then had a 60 day window period — July 1 2008 to August 29 2008 — to submit employer Paye deductions to Sars.
Gordhan said that internationally, employers did much more than employers in South Africa when it came to collecting and transferring information to tax authorities.
He said that Sars has studied personal income tax systems in Sweden, Spain, Chile and New Zealand.
”We’ve learnt from them and we’ll bring this experience to SA,” he said.
For individuals the filing period opens on September 1 2008. The deadline for the manual submission of returns is November 21 2008 and the deadline for electronic submission of returns is January 23 2009.
From 2008, Sars will provide individual tax returns in multiple official languages on demand. – Sapa