Tax payers be warned, SARS threatens of penalty for failure to submit timeously

“Tax payers be warned of penalties if you fail to submit on time, we will not retreat to penalize you!” This is a stern warning from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to tax payers who fail to comply.

Sars has announced the start dates and details for the 2022 tax season, and urged South Africans to take with caution the importance of submitting tax returns.

“Where taxpayers fail to submit returns by the relevant deadline, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is under certain circumstances, empowered to issue an assessment of the amount of tax due and impose certain penalties,” Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr of Tsanga Mukumba said.

Hofmeyr said the revenue service has full capacity to impose penalties if tax payers do not comply with the obligations required.

These penalties are imposed for every month during which the non-compliance persists.

“For example, if a taxpayer fails to submit a return, section 95 of the Tax Administration Act empowers SARS to issue an assessment based on an estimate, using information readily available to SARS,” he said.

The administrative non-compliance penalty for the failure to submit a return comprises fixed amount penalties based on a taxpayer’s taxable income and can range from R250 up to R16 000 a month for each month that the non-compliance continues.