Do SARS check our bank accounts?

DJK said:
They can and they do. It also doesn't necessarily have to be a high amount. Audits are often random and your name can be drawn from a hat. You should declare that cash! Over the course of your tax paying life you are likely to be audited, and if they uncover that for a certain time frame you regularly received an income without declaring it, you're in trouble, especially the longer you leave it, and the tools they use for this are becoming pretty sophisticated - I reckon we'll reach a stage where it is automated and then you're screwed - one relatively large (in your case it probably would be) discrepancy and you become the target of a forensic audit. They will nail you with compound interest going back all the years since you first didn't declare it, and for every single deposit that you didn't declare.

At R15k per annum, a quick calculation shows that if you get nailed in 10 years time and continue to do this, you could be liable for as much as R112,000 in interest at a rate of 10%, this is on top of the actual tax that you'll have to pay on that amount too. All in all they could nail you for about R150k, which would in fact be the entire amount that you should have declared in the first place. So by trying to save about R3k to R6k in taxes per year, you are risking having to fork out R150k in ten years time.

IMO you should declare it - it's not worth the risk unless you can somehow hide that cash (iow it never hits a bank account)...
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Unless you're Jacob Zuma and havent filed a tax return for 9 years. In which case SARS will fine you all of R800 and be done with it.

This chief-mentality is in play. The chief can do no wrong
 
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Hi. I have multiple bank accounts(I have almost every single no monthly fee account that each bank offers except for the Postbank account) and I sometimes move my own money between these accounts. Is it possible SARS can mistake this for undeclared income? I also sometime move money from my credit card to my savings account(There's a way to do it without incurring interest). Could they deem that income by mistake ?
 
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BadMuther said:
Hi. I have multiple bank accounts(I have every almost every single no monthly fee account that each bank offers) and I sometimes move my own money between these accounts. Is it possible SARS can mistake this for undeclared income? I also sometime move money from my credit card to my normal account(There's a way to do it without incurring interest). Could they deem that income by mistake ?
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Its not impossible but dont worry you will be fine as long as you can prove that its not "income"

lol a way of doing it without interest - till they shut that account :p
 
BadMuther said:
Hi. I have multiple bank accounts(I have every almost every single no monthly fee account that each bank offers) and I sometimes move my own money between these accounts. Is it possible SARS can mistake this for undeclared income? I also sometime move money from my credit card to my normal account(There's a way to do it without incurring interest). Could they deem that income by mistake ?
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What's the true story?
 
BadMuther said:
Hi. I have multiple bank accounts(I have every almost every single no monthly fee account that each bank offers) and I sometimes move my own money between these accounts. Is it possible SARS can mistake this for undeclared income? I also sometime move money from my credit card to my normal account(There's a way to do it without incurring interest). Could they deem that income by mistake ?
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No, you are supposed to be getting tax certificates for those accounts when It's SARS time. Unless you have huge savings in there that have accumulated massive interest then there's nothing to worry about.
 
blunomore said:
They do not check all accounts regularly, but they do have the right, yes.

So I guess they only do that once their suspicion is aroused.
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Funny how all the corrupt never roused SARS's suspicion, oh wait, not their job they just collect what the rest steals..
 
TheChamp said:
No, you are supposed to be getting tax certificates for those accounts when It's SARS time. Unless you have huge savings in there that have accumulated massive interest then there's nothing to worry about.
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The interest I get is not huge well under the R22k limit for tax. I mostly use the money to invest in shares. But I moved around R30k from each of my credit cards. So I sometime have around R60k from my credit cards in my savings account.
 
BadMuther said:
The interest I get is not huge well under the R22k limit for tax. I mostly use the money to invest in shares. But I moved around R30k from each of my credit cards. So I sometime have around R60k from my credit cards in my savings account.
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Then you are fine, whether the money is moved or stays in one account is not an issue.
 
SARS will only audit if there is suspicious behavior in accounts like huge amounts being moved in or out. Also an average joe individual tax is peanuts, compared to the businesses and corporations that try to tax avoidance/ fraud. So they will highly unlikely go after the average person unless you give them a reason to. (Like try and get fraudulent tax returns, then you will be on their radar)
 
There must be a heck of a lot of chuckling in the SARS offices if they're checking out my bank account :(
 
Tman543 said:
SARS will only audit if there is suspicious behavior in accounts like huge amounts being moved in or out. Also an average joe individual tax is peanuts, compared to the businesses and corporations that try to tax avoidance/ fraud. So they will highly unlikely go after the average person unless you give them a reason to. (Like try and get fraudulent tax returns, then you will be on their radar)
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Pretty sure the banks feed data back to SARS .. just not sure what value threshold has the reporting done and on what levels constitute interest in the tax compliance. Also if you have sporadic deposits this will trigger some internal risk assessment too which as part of it will check if tax status as beyond certain thresholds reporting is auto?
 
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