SARS request for remission advice. Made a mistake at work.

I

infrared

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Good day everyone,

I posted this on Reddit on r/askSouthAfrica and got great responses but I need further help on how to properly submit a request for remission. So I'm really nervous right now as I made a huge mistake at work. The story is as follows.

I am a trainee accountant and was dealing with a client's VAT submission for the November 2023 period. What happened was that the client had a VAT refund for the 2023-06 period and SARS only finalized the refund on 6 December. Normally SARS pays refund within 72 hours. But they didn't. I then filed the clients return for the November period. After filing it and sending thr client the return, the client asked me for a statement of account for their VAT from SARS. On the statement of account the outdated balance for the 2024 tax year was showing as ; (November VAT - Refund SARS owed from 2023-06). I then sent an email to the client stating SARS has set off their November VAT amount from the refund owed and the outstanding balance was showed on the statement. And their outstanding balance is as stated on the statement of account. This is where I made a mistake.

The client then paid the outstanding balance. However SARS took their own sweet time and only set off the remainder in January. They then charged a penalty and interest on that amount. I owned up to my mistake to the manager. Now tomorrow we will speak to my boss and the client and I'm 100% sure I will be made to pay. And the amount is quite substantial for me, around R50k. I am feeling extremely dejected and an absolute failure. How can I make such a simple mistake. I will be paying R50k for such a stupid mistake.

I spoke to my employer and told me to phone SARS but SARS didn't really help me. So now we are requesting for remission of the penalty. How can I do this effectively? The client in question has no previous cases of non compliance and have not incurred any penalties atleast for the past 5 years. This is their first instance of such. Any help will be appreciated. My employer and other seniors are currently out for audits, hence I'm turning to outside help.

Thank you.
 
I can't say as to whether SARS will assist in this case (although if you get the right person, I think they should, since it's an honest mistake), but one thing I'd say is it's fine to owning up to the mistake, but I would think you are not responsible to pay for it. Based on what you wrote, you're employed by a company or someone to do the work? Ultimately then it's their responsibility to ensure that you a) had sufficient training to manage situations like this, and/or b) they provide oversight to avoid situations like this. I'm no legal expert, but I'd say there's no situation where they can make you pay, and you shouldn't. Own up to the mistake, but don't agree to pay anything. It might cost you your job, but you're a trainee - there should have been someone providing oversight in the first place.

Edit: It may be worth going into a SARS branch and speaking to someone. They will assist with the process, and having someone to speak to face to face rather than dealing with anonymous eFiling queries could benefit you in this situation.
 
Dont feel too bad if it was an honest mistake those happen especially as a trainee. Just own up, learn from it and see what hapens. I also recommend you dont sign anything that says you will pay for the mistake and rather talk to a labour laywer before you do any such thing as typically they can't make you pay unless it was deliberate. Just keep saying you will take it home and think about it if they keep pressuring you.

A good company will blame the process for letting a trainee make such a mistake a bad one will blame the employee and try and make them pay.

I also think you shouldn't try and fix things before getting input from your supervisor or boss as you could make things worse when they may have a better solution.
 
This is why accounting firms are required to have professional indemnity insurance. Worst case scenario is that you may be dismissed for negligence, but as a trainee accountant it's ultimately the responsibility of your line manager or the person supervising you to double check your work. As far as SARS is concerned it's the responsibility of the taxpayer to make sure that their returns are submitted correctly, even if they are submitted on their behalf by a third-party. I can't see any scenario in which you could be made personally liable for this, even if you did mess up.

Furthermore, you should not have to be seeking guidance on public forums to fix this mess. Your employers should be giving you guidance and helping you to reverse this mistake. As a trainee accountant you surely have experienced senior accountants and tax experts working in your company with you. These sorts of mistakes happen all the time, and there would surely be someone in your company who has done this before, or sorted out a mistake like this before and knows exactly what the best method is of resolving this. If not, then you really should be looking for a different company to be training at.
 
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Praemon said:
I can't say as to whether SARS will assist in this case (although if you get the right person, I think they should, since it's an honest mistake), but one thing I'd say is it's fine to owning up to the mistake, but I would think you are not responsible to pay for it. Based on what you wrote, you're employed by a company or someone to do the work? Ultimately then it's their responsibility to ensure that you a) had sufficient training to manage situations like this, and/or b) they provide oversight to avoid situations like this. I'm no legal expert, but I'd say there's no situation where they can make you pay, and you shouldn't. Own up to the mistake, but don't agree to pay anything. It might cost you your job, but you're a trainee - there should have been someone providing oversight in the first place.

Edit: It may be worth going into a SARS branch and speaking to someone. They will assist with the process, and having someone to speak to face to face rather than dealing with anonymous eFiling queries could benefit you in this situation.
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Thanks for the kinds words. I have tried to tell my seniors that going into the branch will be our best option as the phone call did not resolve anything. But I don't wish to divulge much about my current workplace, it's sort of dysfunctional. My boss is never in and others are always busy.
 
B-1 said:
Dont feel too bad if it was an honest mistake those happen especially as a trainee. Just own up, learn from it and see what hapens. I also recommend you dont sign anything that says you will pay for the mistake and rather talk to a labour laywer before you do any such thing as typically they can't make you pay unless it was deliberate. Just keep saying you will take it home and think about it if they keep pressuring you.

A good company will blame the process for letting a trainee make such a mistake a bad one will blame the employee and try and make them pay.

I also think you shouldn't try and fix things before getting input from your supervisor or boss as you could make things worse when they may have a better solution.
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The thing is that my last manager who was responsible for reviewing the trainee's work and finalising it left abruptly end of November. And they have not hired anyone else since that. That's one of the reasons why I'm in this situation. And others are always too busy. So, I'm trying to piece information together as to how I should go on about this. It's sort of a chaotic environment.
 
deweyzeph said:
This is why accounting firms are required to have professional indemnity insurance. Worst case scenario is that you may be dismissed for negligence, but as a trainee accountant it's ultimately the responsibility of your line manager or the person supervising you to double check your work. As far as SARS is concerned it's the responsibility of the taxpayer to make sure that their returns are submitted correctly, even if they are submitted on their behalf by a third-party. I can't see any scenario in which you could be made personally liable for this, even if you did mess up.

Furthermore, you should not have to be seeking guidance on public forums to fix this mess. Your employers should be giving you guidance and helping you to reverse this mistake. As a trainee accountant you surely have experienced senior accountants and tax experts working in your company with you. These sorts of mistakes happen all the time, and there would surely be someone in your company who has done this before, or sorted out a mistake like this before and knows exactly what the best method is of resolving this. If not, then you really should be looking for a different company to be training at.
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To be completely honest, I was in two minds while making this post. I really shouldn't have to be asking others for help but if you read my comment to another user you will get an idea or you already should've gotten an idea of the type of workplace I'm currently working in. boss never in, previous competent manager left abruptly end of November, replacement for manager only coming in beginning of march. So yeah, I was strongly considering leaving this firm before this issue even happened now I just want to get out of this place.
 
butters89 said:
Can't see why you should have to pay for this. In any industry, mistakes are part and parcel of the job. I've seen many people make very costly mistakes, and nothing happens besides identifying the error and making sure it never happens again.
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The firm sent out a memo last year stating if an employee makes a mistake, they will be liable for the damages resulting from that. Several people have told me that such memos are illegal and you cannot be forced to pay anything. But I really do feel bad about making such a mistake. And I will feel guilty if the employer has to pay. But on the other hand when he makes a fat profit at the end of the year, he doesn't give me share of it. So I'm very conflicted right now.
 
I don’t understand what the mistake you made was but then again that’s why I have someone else do my taxes.
 
azboob said:
I don’t understand what the mistake you made was but then again that’s why I have someone else do my taxes.
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so basically me and the client were under the impression that the refund owed by SARS from 2023-06 will be released within 72 hours. The refund was approved on 6 December 2023. I then filed the VAT return for 2023-11 period and the client only paid the amount on the return for 2023-11 less the refund amount.

But SARS didn't release the refund on time and they charged a penalty for "paying" late.
 
Here's a very quick and important life lesson.

Your employers don't give a moral scht about you and you shouldn't give a moral scht about them.

Dont pay a cent and dont feel bad for not paying a cent. This is a business transaction. It's not you boinking your best friends wife.
 
You will need to request remission of the penalty on e-filing.

As part of the request, you/your employer will need to do a detailed letter setting out the facts of your request for remission indicating how the error occurred, that it is the client's first offence (although not caused by the client), and that SARS was not prejudiced as the VAT refund was approved but not yet paid.

It is still at the discretion of SARS whether or not they will reverse the penalty.

If you wanted to have the refund offset against the payment due to SARS you should have submitted a request for the payment to be allocated against the amount owed prior to the end of December.
 
infrared said:
The firm sent out a memo last year stating if an employee makes a mistake, they will be liable for the damages resulting from that. Several people have told me that such memos are illegal and you cannot be forced to pay anything. But I really do feel bad about making such a mistake. And I will feel guilty if the employer has to pay. But on the other hand when he makes a fat profit at the end of the year, he doesn't give me share of it. So I'm very conflicted right now.
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So you know it's illegal to try and enforce it? Like others have said, don't sign or say that you intend to pay it, this is part of running a company and mistakes like this are why they get liability insurance/bake it into their profit margin.

Going to SARS and explaining it are fine, to say the company made a mistake due to expecting the refund due to be part of the credit as per historic norm, and see if SARS will refund it.

Seek out a new place of employment pronto either way, company trying to push this on an employee is not a good work environment, especially if the person is a junior/trainee. If they continue to bother you, go CCMA route, and since accountant, not sure if possible to chat with SAIPA (since they require membership, but might also give you advice pro-bono).
 
infrared said:
so basically me and the client were under the impression that the refund owed by SARS from 2023-06 will be released within 72 hours. The refund was approved on 6 December 2023. I then filed the VAT return for 2023-11 period and the client only paid the amount on the return for 2023-11 less the refund amount.

But SARS didn't release the refund on time and they charged a penalty for "paying" late.
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Thanks. Didn’t know that paying an amount less an expected refund was an option. Would’ve thought you’d just pay what you owe and get your refund when it comes. Good luck!
 
infrared said:
So I'm really nervous right now as I made a huge mistake at work. The story is as follows.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it at all - nowadays the prisons are operating at max capacity, so you'll be released from jail after only a few years - and many, many people find re-employment even if they have criminal records on their name.
 
Why did nobody sign off on your work?

I hear you saying it's chaotic but did you ignore company rules and bypass approval of your final figure by a senior?
 
Not vat, but provisional tax, the accounting firm that did mine skipped a year, and they just said they can't do anything about it and they can't take responsibility, I need to pay the penalties.
 
maumau said:
Why did nobody sign off on your work?

I hear you saying it's chaotic but did you ignore company rules and bypass approval of your final figure by a senior?
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nope, I didn't ignore any instructions or rules. As it was December and as mentioned before the manager responsible left end of November so nobody was really checking the work as everyone was extremely busy with their own things.
 
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