{"id":549158,"date":"2006-06-13T07:26:25","date_gmt":"2006-06-13T07:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/549158-sars-notches-up-its-1000th-e-file-user.html"},"modified":"2006-06-13T07:26:25","modified_gmt":"2006-06-13T07:26:25","slug":"sars-notches-up-its-1000th-e-file-user","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/549158-sars-notches-up-its-1000th-e-file-user.html","title":{"rendered":"Sars notches up its 1000th e-file user"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baney, who told Business Report that he had registered last week Monday, received an acknowledgment from the SA Revenue Service (Sars) on Wednesday and filed on Thursday. And, as someone who spends his day on the roads stuck in traffic, he is grateful for the opportunity to file from the comfort of his home and without the inconvenience of queuing.<\/p>\n

He described the process as user-friendly.<\/p>\n

Sars, which presented Baney with a certificate at an informal ceremony yesterday to mark the occasion, wants more taxpayers to follow his example before the July 14 deadline for returns. <\/p>\n

The service is available to anyone who receives a basic salary or a basic salary plus allowances.<\/p>\n

The tax collection agency’s electronic filing (e-filing) facility for individuals went live at midnight on May 31. By yesterday, more than 8 000 taxpayers had registered on the Sars website and more than 6 000 have been activated. And about 1 000 taxpayers who have submitted returns for the 2005\/06 tax year have effectively jumped the queue by e-filing because their forms can be processed more effectively.<\/p>\n

The maximum turnaround time for an assessment was 90 days. "But it could be much less if the return submitted electronically is straightforward," said Sars commissioner Pravin Gordhan. "If there are queries or if additional information is needed, it would depend on how long the taxpayer takes to provide answers."<\/font><\/p>\n

Documentation did not have to be submitted when the e-filing took place. "But taxpayers must have the documents available if we request them," said Gordhan. <\/p>\n

One thousand practitioners had also registered on the website. "And as each has between 10 and 1 000 clients, this will multiply usage considerably," he said.<\/p>\n

The initiative brings individuals in line with other taxpayers who have been filing VAT, PAYE, unemployment insurance fund payments and provisional returns electronically for up to two years. <\/p>\n

Sars hopes to eventually process 70 percent to 80 percent of its returns electronically. To help people with no access to computers and the internet, it was setting up facilities at some of its branches. And, for those who were not comfortable with the process, it might expand its footprint to accommodate the growing tax base, said Gordhan.<\/p>\n

The information provided by taxpayers is electronically scrutinised to detect inconsistencies, so people who underreport their income are at risk of detection.<\/p>\n

The data Sars captured from the forms will be stored and, apart from their value to Sars, the aggregated figures will become a treasure trove of economic information, which the agency can share with Statistics SA and the national treasury.<\/p>\n

E-filing was common practice, internationally. "The leaders are Latin American countries," said Gordhan.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Eddie Baney, a printer’s representative from Randburg, last week became the 1 000th South African to submit his tax return electronically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-549158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}