{"id":786354,"date":"2024-08-11T07:15:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=786354"},"modified":"2024-08-11T07:17:56","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T05:17:56","slug":"warning-over-new-ghost-tax-scam-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/786354\/warning-over-new-ghost-tax-scam-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning over new ‘ghost’ tax scam in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tax experts have warned taxpayers over a new ‘ghost consultant’ tax scam, where bogus tax practitioners are leaving clients high and dry – sometimes with money still owed to SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scam was flagged this month, where unscrupulous tax practitioners – hired to handle a client’s tax affairs – instead just take their money and then up and disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients only realise something is wrong when they try to get hold of a tax clearing certificate or find out that SARS is taking money out of their bank accounts to cover tax debts owed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith Engel, CEO of the SA Institute of Taxation (SAIT) told the City Press<\/a> that these scammers also raise other red flags, often promising clients guaranteed tax returns from SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Many of what we call \u2018ghost\u2019 tax preparers promise refunds, charge a fee and then disappear. If Sars then audits the taxpayers\u2019 cases, they demand that the money be repaid. The taxpayer can also incur penalties,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making matters worse, taxpayers are held fully responsible for this – meaning using a dodgy tax practitioner is no excuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you use a bad tax practitioner, SARS has placed you on notice for the risks you take. It states the importance of being fully compliant because, as a taxpayer, your tax affairs ultimately remain your own responsibility,” Tax Consulting SA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the 2024 Tax Filing Season upon us, South African taxpayers who want to do the right thing, face rising concern over non-compliant tax practitioners whose actions can spring nasty and costly surprises on unsuspecting taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In official correspondence in July, SARS warned South African taxpayers and tax practitioners that non-compliance among the latter is in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter posed the question: if your tax practitioner\u2019s own taxes are not compliant, how can the practitioner be competent to ensure your compliance and to keep your tax affairs in order? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax Consulting said that South African taxpayers who rely on dodgy practitioners often find themselves in legal trouble and owe a lot of money to SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It suggested that taxpayers not be lax about their tax affairs and assume that they can be hands-off, even with tax practitioners involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now, more than ever, it is advisable to proactively verify credentials and compliance before appointing a tax practitioner. This will ensure you work with professionals who adhere to the required standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Look for tools and resources to verify your compliance status and that of your practitioner. Utilizing these tools can provide the assurance needed to navigate this critical period with confidence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practical Steps for Taxpayers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Check Registration:<\/strong> Ensure that you and your tax practitioner are registered with SARS and the practitioner with a recognized controlling body, and that they show they are in good standing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Request Proof of Compliance<\/strong>: Ask your practitioner to provide evidence of your and their overall compliance status.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Use Verification Tools: L<\/strong>everage tools and resources to verify your compliance status and that of your practitioner.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    South Africa’s banks and SARS have been warning taxpayers to be on high alert for a host of tax-related scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With tax season 2024 in full swing, the risk of falling victim to scams is higher, especially those that are spoofing communication from banks and the revenue service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tax season has become a popular time for criminals to send out fraudulent emails and SMSs claiming to be from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), engaging in phishing and social engineering scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Messages and communications sent to victims can often appear above board, coming from addresses such as returns@sars.co.za or refunds@sars.co.za, and often claim that the recipient is due a tax refund or owes money to SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Messages also typically feature links to fake forms and websites that mimic the official SARS site to get taxpayers to provide personal information to make payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Taxpayers are urged to remain vigilant and proactively take charge of their tax affairs to avoid falling victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Read: Big Shein and Temu tax changes hit South Africa next month<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Unscrupulous operators in the tax space are getting paid to help clients with their tax affairs, and then leaving them high and dry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":671415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-786354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786354","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=786354"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786359,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786354\/revisions\/786359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}