SARS is on a hiring drive for these skills

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it is looking for skills and talents in three main categories, as it continues to build towards its vision of being a “smart and modern” tax authority.

This past week, the service highlighted a talent drive looking for auditors, service consultants and debt collectors, with positions open across various regions and local offices.

The group has spent the last few years rebuilding its pool of critical skills and has put a lot of emphasis on building its technological, digital and automation talent.

It said that it is taking advantage of these resources to make it easier for taxpayers and traders to comply with their tax obligations – at a time when the national government is under severe pressure to collect revenues.

As SARS’ ambitions have expanded, it requires professional skills to achieve its goals – which include specialised auditing on high net worth individuals and sniffing out tax evaders.

“By joining SARS, you will not only become part of a professional and dynamic group of people, but you will also be a pioneer in delivering world-class service to South Africans,” the group said.

Auditors

SARS said that its pool of auditor talent will have access to the expertise and best practices they need to help administer South Africa’s tax and customs affairs.

The specific fields these professionals will dive into include:

• Syndicated Tax and Customs Capacity: investigating organised criminal and illicit attempts to evade tax and customs and excise duties. Auditors detect taxpayers and traders who are non-compliant and make non-compliance difficult and costly. The Syndicated Tax and Customs Capacity enables SARS to deal with illicit economic activity domestically and internationally.

• Large Business & International: manage relationships with industry and allocate specialised tax teams to clients’ businesses. This unit comprises professionals skilled in multiple tax types to serve taxpayers with complex portfolios, including those operating in multiple tax jurisdictions.

• High Wealth Individuals: improve voluntary tax compliance by focusing on individuals with highly complex tax-planning structures. This unit delves into financial structures such as special-purpose vehicles used to shift wealth. Auditors working in this unit have a strong command of the legislation dealing with tax-planning schemes.

• Specialised Audit: focus on small and medium enterprises in the licit economy. This unit works with diverse cases, cutting across tax types and industries.

Interested individuals can apply here.

Service Consultants

SARS said it is looking for “vibrant, energetic, results-oriented, and driven individuals” to join the pool of Service Consultants.

Service Consultants are responsible for rendering service to taxpayers across all SARS service channels which includes “over the counter”, voice, e-mail, and video channels, in both physical and remote settings.

The service includes:

• Facilitating query resolution;
• Taxpayer education;
• Maintaining taxpayer or trader profiles and account management;
• Registering and de-registering taxpayers; and
• Compliance activities such as debt collection and outstanding returns.

Requirements: Post matric qualification (NQF Level 6 and above qualification in Taxation, Accounting or Finance), and 2 years’ customer service experience.

Interested individuals can apply here.

Debt Collectors

Debt Collectors are responsible for the collection of debt owed to SARS.

“Interested individuals must have excellent debt-collecting skills, very good communication skills, both verbal and written, and be goal and target-driven,” SARS said.

SARS said that the debt collection function involves various tasks aimed at recovering outstanding debts from taxpayers.

These tasks include:

• Determining the origin of the debt;
• Verifying due dates; and
• Ensuring taxpayer compliance with relevant tax regulations.

Additionally, the function includes cross-referencing tax types to ensure accurate collection efforts.

“Debt recovery interventions are executed in line with established standard operating procedures and within defined turnaround times,” the revenue service said.

Requirements: Relevant Higher Certificate (NQF 5) and 2 years’ experience in a Debt Management environment.

Interested individuals can apply here.

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