{"id":232145,"date":"2018-03-17T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T16:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=232145"},"modified":"2018-03-16T14:19:49","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T12:19:49","slug":"sars-has-authorised-8-debt-collectors-to-recover-money-on-its-behalf-heres-what-you-need-to-know-if-one-of-them-contacts-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/232145\/sars-has-authorised-8-debt-collectors-to-recover-money-on-its-behalf-heres-what-you-need-to-know-if-one-of-them-contacts-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s what you need to know if a SARS debt collector contacts you"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it has appointed eight debt collection agencies to recover as much as R16.6 billion in debt that is owed to the tax authority.<\/p>\n<p>SARS said that the new collectors would be used in the recovery of\u00a0 both older and relatively small amounts due to the revenue collector.<\/p>\n<p>The contract takes effect immediately and will run until 28 Feb 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The eight agencies are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CSS Credit Solution Services<\/li>\n<li>ITC Business Administrators<\/li>\n<li>Medaco Capital Services<\/li>\n<li>New Integrated Credit Solutions<\/li>\n<li>Norman Bisset &amp; Associates Group<\/li>\n<li>Revenue Consulting<\/li>\n<li>Transactional Capital Recoveries<\/li>\n<li>Van De Venter Mojapelo<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Taxpayers and traders with outstanding accounts will only be contacted, via electronic channels. The agencies will embark on the traditional debt collection activities, including outbound calls; tracing of taxpayers, sending out notices (can be SMSs, emails or letters\/notices).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Under no circumstances should\u00a0 debtors pay money directly to the debt collection agency. All outstanding taxor duties must only be paid directly to SARS via authorised payment channels,&#8221; the revenue service said.<\/p>\n<p>SARS said that the\u00a0debt collection agencies have also been tasked with encouraging non-compliant taxpayers to submit their outstanding returns to SARS to avoid the imposition of any further interest or penalties and criminal charges.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;SARS invites all taxpayers to please co-operate with the service providers above. Failure to do this could result in criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The revenue collected by SARS is vital for fuelling the growth and development of our country and assisting SARS to achieve its tough target of R1.217 trillion. Compliant taxpayers who pay their dues should be justifiably proud that they contribute to this national agenda as responsible citizens.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;SARS thanks these taxpayers and is committed to improving its service to the taxpaying public while introducing measures to make it easier for all taxpayers to comply with their fiscal obligations,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>What you need to know<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a follow-up advisory, PwC has detailed your rights and obligations should one of these debt collectors contact you.<\/p>\n<p>These include your right to confidentiality, how you should make any payments, and what to look out for if you feel uneasy about the payment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Confidentiality<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Section 69 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (\u201cthe TAA\u201d) states that SARS is required to preserve the secrecy of taxpayer information and not disclose this information to persons who are not SARS officials. It also states under what circumstances certain information can be disclosed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Payment process<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SARS has 5 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sars.gov.za\/ClientSegments\/Individuals\/How-Pay\/Pages\/Payment.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>payment<\/strong> <strong>options<\/strong><\/a> available for taxpayers where payment is made directly to SARS.<\/p>\n<p>If you are requested to make payments directly to an agent or outside of the SARS payment options it is advised not to do so and report the matter as this may be a scam. If a taxpayer is unsure of banking account details provided, they should contact SARS to verify the details.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Recovery of tax<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Where the amount is less than R100 or an amount announced by public notice by the Commissioner, it does not need to be recovered by SARS.<\/p>\n<p>If the date of assessment or decision giving rise to the tax liability is 15 years old or more SARS may not initiate debt collection processes. Nor may SARS initiate debt collection procedures for a debt that has been suspending pending objection or appeal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Other issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PwC said that South African taxpayers must also beware of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do not ignore letters of demand from SARS.<\/li>\n<li>Verify who is calling you &#8211; be aware of the independent agent calling you on behalf of SARS and verify that it is listed by SARS as a contractor.<\/li>\n<li>Other third parties (i.e banks) may also be appointed to recover taxes.<\/li>\n<li>SARS will insist on the \u201cpay now argue later\u201d rule. However, section 164 of the TAA allows a taxpayer to request a suspension of payment.<\/li>\n<li>When applying for Suspension of Payment in terms of Section 164, SARS will in all likelihood request a breakdown of \u201cfinancial hardship\u201d claimed by a taxpayer as well as request security for the outstanding, disputed tax debt.<\/li>\n<li>Depending on the quantum and nature of the dispute as well as \u201cprospects of success\u201d in court SARS may be amenable to settle (if the matter is disputed) or if the matter is undisputed, to compromise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;As a taxpayer you are entitled to verify who is calling you and refer them to your tax practitioner,&#8221; PwC&#8217;s Kyle Mandy said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where you feel that section 69 has been contravened you may inform the caller or agent of this.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ensure that you are satisfied that the debt is owed and the amount is correct. Verify banking details with SARS before making payments. You should also be on high alert as criminals may use this opportunity to scam you as a taxpayer,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/231179\/4-major-taxes-that-are-going-to-hit-you-in-the-pocket-from-april-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4 major taxes that are going to hit you in the pocket from April 2018<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Revenue Service (SARS) says it has appointed eight debt collection agencies to recover as much of the R16.6 billion in debt owed to the taxman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":80497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26,2407,3246],"class_list":["post-232145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline","tag-pwc","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232145"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232479,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232145\/revisions\/232479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}