Pretoria - Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Tom Moyane on Tuesday launched random on-site inspections targeted on non-compliance at cash and carry businesses.
“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,” said the Commissioner.
SARS said on-site inspectors will perform compliance checks to identify registration, filing non-compliance and thus flag any suspicious businesses.
Depending on the intention and severity of the non-compliance, the revenue service 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.
However, SARS is offering relief to businesses who volunteer information about any tax that they owe.
SARS urged taxpayers are urged to come forward via the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) to avoid criminal prosecution and the more stringent penalties associated with forced compliance.
SARS said their approach was aimed at ensuring all taxpayers, both individuals and companies, do the right thing.
“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 Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP); the consequences will be less severe than if SARS establishes the non-compliance,” said Moyane. –SAnews.gov.za
