SARS, a bunch of morons

[Celine]

I've got this client who has his hand in something every year and every year he gives up on what he starts because he makes losses. I swear he has "dibs i'm it" written on his forehead.

he started this RJ's franchise and ran it at a loss for a year and a half. so I submit his tax returns and the first year goes off without a hitch. the second year i'm having huge problems. I keep submitting stuff for this franchise. the cost of sales wasn't allowed on the original assessment so I objected. I swear there are morons at the SARS offices. I get correspondence telling me they have allowed advertising. oh boy the fun starts. they want financials. I send them, then they want the next thing, I send them. I now have to send a complete break down of cost of sales, other expenses and rent paid. i'm at a point where I think i'm the one who is a loon.

 

[Rouxenator]

To end the week off and to make sure I know who is in charge SARS took a whopping 40% of a little something extra I got for working hard on a project we just finished. It really breaks something inside when you think they get it just for free while you had to work 14 hours a day some weeks and not see your kids. This tax thing is just so wrong. They money they took is more that what my one car is worth for pete sake!

 

[MickeyD]

To end the week off and to make sure I know who is in charge SARS took a whopping 40% of a little something extra I got for working hard on a project we just finished. It really breaks something inside when you thing they get it just for free while you had to work 14 hours a day some weeks and not see your kids. This tax thing is just so wrong. They money they took is more that what my one car is worth for pete sake!

Think of all the needy military veterans waiting for their hand-outs... shame on you!

 

[mintydroid]

Think of all the needy military veterans waiting for their hand-outs... shame on you!

ANC veterans you mean

 

[MickeyD]

ANC veterans you mean

I was being PC, did not want the CHARNA to explode!

 

[Rouxenator]

Yassus bru, this charna is seriously miffed and wants to klappit! If I add up what SARS stole from me over and above my normal monthly PAYE... It is just...

 

[BTTB]

My bookkeeper and accountant do all my returns fortunately, they know how the system works and what to fill in where and what to say to queries, so I lose very little sleep about my taxes, thank heavens.

/Rant on
However recently I had the unfortunate experience if having to make a query to the Tax Exemption Unit at SARS in regards to my granddaughter who has Leukaemia and needs a bone marrow transplant from an overseas donor, for which we are raising funds through a Non Profit Company and Non Profit Organisation. My query to them was how could the NPO issue a S18A Certificate to a Company who donated money for the procurement of bone marrow stem cells and the Company needed it before the end of August for their own tax filing purposes. The TEU gave me the wrong steer and said we should register a Special Trust, I even gave my accountant instructions to proceed and register the Special Trust, only to discover it was the wrong advice.
We had to contact a local Lawyer firm who specialise in Trusts who checked the laws for us and it turns out only a Public Benefit Organisation can issue a S18A certificate. A PBO is for the benefit of the general public, not for individuals even though a bone marrow transplant can only ever be for an individual.
The laws have been restructured in recent years that only PBOs can issue these certificates, which means that any local Company that wishes to donate money to a child who has Cancer will not get a tax benefit. They have to donate to a PBO like the SABMR or Sunflower Fund. That may sound all good and well, but ask either of these organisations for money and they cannot help an individual person. Seems like a useless loop of more poorly written laws in SA leaving the cost burden of hundreds of thousands of Rands to the parents or in our case the grandparents as neither the State or Medical Aid will pay, this for something that would be free in other parts of the world.
/Rant off

 

[Stefanmuller]

Actually SARS is probably the best run government institution, actually very efficient. If you go have a look at Namibia's Ministry of Finance (their equivalent to SARS) you will see that we are very fortunate. They have no eFiling system and everything is manual. You make sure you never overpay so that they owe you, because you will never get the money back without you basically have to fight for it.

As with all organisations, it depends who you get on the other side of the phone and there are always new noobs that are busy with training etc. But more often than not, SARS is on the ball and it is the taxpayer who missed something or is in the wrong.

 

[TJ99]

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.

Exactly. And if you hadn't overpaid your taxes you could have had the benefit of your money much earlier instead of it earning interest for SARS all year.

 

[chrisc]

I actually discovered today that I should have claimed back on travel allowance in my previous assessments - which I never did. This is actually quite a large chunk of money. Is it possible to still correct it and possibly receive some money back?

Apparently you can. Since they can re-audit you for up to 10 years, you can also resubmit your claim. There is a tab on the e-filing site that caters for this

 

[BTTB]

Actually SARS is probably the best run government institution, actually very efficient.

So I hear. Sort of makes you ill, the Government know how to collect your money, but just about every other Government Department has problems, bad mangement, inefficiencies, corruption etc.

I think the comment about the person on the phone being untrained fits the bill. The person that got to answer my query simply kept passing the buck from what I could determine to get you off their back, whether it was the right or wrong advice. This seems to be quite prevalent in our society today, service levels and training and people who actually CARE.

 

[Stefanmuller]

So I hear. Sort of makes you ill, the Government know how to collect your money, but just about every other Government Department has problems, bad mangement, inefficiencies, corruption etc.

I think the comment about the person on the phone being untrained fits the bill. The person that got to answer my query simply kept passing the buck from what I could determine to get you off their back, whether it was the right or wrong advice. This seems to be quite prevalent in our society today, service levels and training and people who actually CARE.

Also remember that not everyone is tax savvy. Everyone is subject to tax but generally the tax laws are quite complex and many people dont know the basic concepts. Which if you think about it should form part of the school curriculum. So even though the person on the other side of the phone at SARS usually knows what they are talking about, the problem is actually one of a communication gap ie the taxpayer using the wrong terminology with their query or him not understanding the instructions given to him.

As tax practitioners we use the practitioner call centre so obviously both sides of the phone line have people talking the same "language".

The concept of paying your estimated yearly tax throughout the year and then the yearly tax return being the reconciliation of the actual tax payable based on actual taxable income and the tax already paid, is a concept missed by most lay people. Hence when there has to be tax paid in, the reaction is often one of "I am being cheated or they are wrong or useless".