SARS has introduced a new service charter – here’s what it expects from taxpayers
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has recently adopted a new service charter that clarifies its service commitment to taxpayers and traders for tax, customs and excise.
And with the tax-filing season around the corner, the charter also sets out the rights and obligations of taxpayers and traders and is effective from 1 April 2022.
“The new charter is in pursuance of a strategic intent to develop a tax system based on voluntary compliance, whilst supporting the organisation’s ‘service obsession’ which is one of the elements of the SARS Leadership Model.
“It is the result of several engagements which include internal and external stakeholders, audit observations and systemic issues as raised by the Office of the Tax Ombud,” SARS said.
What has changed?
SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter has introduced the new organisational language, Vision 2024, and nine strategic objectives to which SARS’s work should align to. Changes in the service charter include:
- Tax system value-chain has included new defined metrics.
- Included more digital functionalities and virtual engagements through eBooking.
- Service level commitments have taken the practicality of high volumes and integrated some transactional work on an average of about 20 – 30%.
- SARS is committing to work on improving communication to update taxpayers on the status of their requests on eFiling and others means.
- Taxpayer’s Rights and Obligations have been consolidated and elaborated through meaning on the website.
- Charter highlights that the primary resolution of service failures should be where engagement is happening at the branch or centre before escalation to higher authorities.
Kieswetter has said that the revenue service has been able to deploy new capabilities to enhance taxpayer and trader experience.
“We are now able to automatically assess individual taxpayers (standard income earners) with relatively simple tax affairs, reducing the need for them to visit SARS branches. Individual taxpayers are able to view and/or edit assessments and submit their tax returns from wherever they are, using efiling.”
“We are well aware that public and taxpayer/trader confidence in SARS is still not where we want it to be to sustain the highest levels of voluntary compliance. We are working very hard and intelligently to ensure that trust and credibility is restored in the organisation.”
He said that there are many areas where SARS continues to fall short with respect to improving taxpayer and trader experience, “and we are committed to resolving systematic issues that negatively affect taxpayers and traders across all SARS interactions. If you are an honest and law-abiding citizen, our actions and interactions should not inconvenience you unduly,” he said.
Your rights and obligations
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