Pretoria - As tax season 2016 comes to an end, two men have been arrested for claiming R110 million VAT refunds for a non-existent business in Cape Town, said the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
The business man and his accountant were arrested on Thursday morning.
“The business man, his accountant and five connected closed corporations received a total of R110 385 975 in VAT refunds over a period of time. They claimed the VAT refunds by submitting fraudulent invoices to SARS on a monthly basis,” said the revenue service in a statement.
Following an audit, SARS’s investigations confirmed that the invoices were not only false but that all the invoices, on which input VAT were claimed were shared between three vendors.
“SARS was able to confirm that the suspects did not run a business or purchase goods from suppliers, yet the refunds they had claimed were tantamount to purchases to the value of R823 million.”
The money that was claimed by the pair was used to pay bonds on the huge property portfolio held amongst them, luxury vehicles, overseas trips and private expenses.
The accused face charges of contraventions of Tax and Customs Acts, as well as charges of theft, fraud, money laundering, forgery and uttering.
“They are expected to appear in court for a bail hearing within the next few days,” said SARS.
Tax season 2016
Meanwhile, tax season which began in July comes to a close today.
“The clock is ticking as Tax Season hits its final day mark. Non-provisional taxpayers have until 25 November 2016, to file their tax returns before tax season officially closes for this category of taxpayer,” said the revenue service.
SARS has thus far received over 5.3 million tax returns.
Most taxpayers at 50.5% used eFiling to submit their returns, while 49.94% returns were filed at a branch. A very small percentage (0.01%) has been filed manually via post so far.
While branches operate between 8am to 4pm this week, SARS tax agents will ensure that all taxpayers in the branch are assisted with their tax returns.
The SARS contact centre will extend its operating hours from 8am to 7pm to ensure that taxpayers opting to submit their tax returns via eFiling have the support required.
For provisional taxpayers who submit via eFiling, tax season runs until 31 January 2017. – SAnews.gov.za
