SARS auto assessment scam alert
The South African Fraud Prevention Services has warned taxpayers to be on high alert for new auto assessment scams during the 2024 tax season.
The group said that it has been monitoring scam activity over the past few years and has noticed a rising trend of auto-assessment fraud in step with the South African Revenue Services’ (SARS’) increased push towards using the tech.
“Over the past five years, the SAFPS has noticed a growing trend of tax scams which are targeting individuals who are desperate for cash,” said Manie van Schalkwyk, CEO of SAFPS.
Van Schalkwyk said that taxpayers should not take auto-assessments at face value, and should always check to see if they are legit.
“SARS is increasingly gravitating towards an auto-assessment system for qualifying taxpayers. This means that SARS has already done the tax return on behalf of the individual. They then either qualify for a rebate or pay money back to SARS,” he said.
While SARS’s process is legitimate, he warned that scammers have also adopted this trend.
SAFPS said the scam operates as follows:
- Scammers contact taxpayers impersonating SARS.
- When targeted taxpayers log on to complete their auto-assessment, they are redirected to a proxy website where scammers will use the information they fill in on the form.
- The scammers will go as far as to produce a fake proof of payment document indicating that a rebate has been paid into the taxpayer’s bank account.
This new scam trend adds to the multitude of other tax-based scams being perpetrated against taxpayers during the tax season.
SARS most recently warned of additional scams in 2024 where criminals are impersonating SARS officials.
In a similar vein to the auto assessment scam, the criminals pose as SARS officials, and lure taxpayers into a trap with an ‘Outstanding Tax Payment’ notice.
The notice, sent via email, replicates SARS’ logo and formatting and warns taxpayers that they will be unable to file their tax return for the 2024 tax season until they pay an outstanding amount attached to their tax profiles.
The scammers warn that failing to pay the amount by a specific date will result in fines, penalties, and potential assessments on a taxpayer’s affairs, which could result in conviction and prison time.
“As you can see, scammers are using sophisticated tactics,” said Van Schalkwyk.
He said that before taxpayers act in a panic, they should contact SARS and clarify the situation with them before taking action.
According to SARS, the key counter to these kinds of scams is to be extra discerning when dealing with these kinds of messages.
The fraudulent messages usually show up via email and come from spoofed SARS addresses or email addresses that seem related but are not, in fact, coming from SARS at all. Some common formats include:
- Mentioning SARS or Tax somewhere in the address;
- Coming from a .gov.za address tied to a government department (like the DTIC or DMRE, etc);
- Addresses that have ‘refund’ or ‘customer care’ or ‘legal’ as part of the name;
- Addresses that are completely unrelated to SARS, coming from purported tax practitioners or lawyers on behalf of SARS.
SARS said that it never provides bank account numbers in its correspondence and that all legitimate tax information and communication can be accessed on eFiling and the mobiApp.
Taxpayers can check to see if they are in the auto-assessment population this year by checking their status on the SARS Online Query System (SOQS).
The Revenue Service has also launched a new WhatsApp channel, where taxpayers can keep up to date with their tax information, including their tax refund and audit status.
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