If you follow my posts, you would have come across one of my articles that dealt with the approach SARS has taken to deal with the non-submission of a tax return. This is a follow up to this article.
So now you read that SARS will prosecute you for non-submission and charge you an R5 600 fine if convicted (of course, you will be convicted because there is overwhelming evidence against you/your company that you did not submit a few tax/vat returns.) You then went on to submit all your outstanding returns but you now owe SARS large sums of money.
Taxpayers are required to be fully compliant in all their tax matters by submitting and paying their taxes on time. If taxpayers are not compliant or have outstanding tax debt the SARS Debt Management department is committed to assisting businesses and individuals to become fully compliant. There are a few avenues that SARS uses to assist in this regard.
How much do I owe?
What if I can’t pay the outstanding amount now?
Every taxpayer must be aware that it is best practice to always file a tax return on time in order to avoid penalties and interest. But, if you are currently unable to pay your taxes, please contact SARS without delay. The following options may be available to you:
- Payment arrangements:
Under certain circumstances, SARS can reach an agreement with a taxpayer to defer a tax debt for later payment or for payment by instalments. A deferred payment arrangement is s when a taxpayer can not settle the full amount owing to SARS immediately and want to apply for a payment plan to settle the debt. Under this option:
- SARS has the option to decline the request.
- Interest will accrue on any unpaid debt.
- If you don’t adhere to the conditions of the payment arrangement the payment agreement will be terminated and normal collection proceedings will resume.
- The taxpayer must suffer from a deficiency of assets or liquidity, which is reasonably certain to be remedied in the future.
- Notwithstanding this deficiency, the taxpayer must anticipate that there will be income or other receipts which can be used to satisfy the tax debt.
- At the time of concluding the agreement, the prospects of collecting the tax debt must be poor or uneconomical, but likely to improve in the future.
- Moreover, the deferral should not prejudice the collection of the tax debt
2. Compromise agreement:
In certain circumstances, a compromise may be requested on taxpayers’ outstanding tax debt. A SARS Debt Compromise is a process whereby a taxpayer requests that SARS permanently “write-off” a large portion of their debt, with the balance being paid in full by the taxpayer immediately on the condition that the taxpayer complies with any conditions as may be imposed by SARS.
A compromise cannot be considered if the taxpayer disputes the debt. Therefore while a matter is under objection or appeal, a compromise cannot be considered. If the taxpayer wants to compromise he has to withdraw his objection or appeal.
What if you do not agree with the debt?
- We deliver on our promise
- Compromise solutions are difficult to obtain
- For this reason, it is important that it is handled by qualified and dedicated tax practitioners.
- We have a team of experts who will always work to get the best result.
- Click here to contact us
Hi Marthina,
We will reach out to you and set up a 15 to 30 min consultation.
Expect to hear from us in the next 24 hours