The South African Revenue Services (Sars) said on Tuesday, that some media have incorrectly inflated its revenue collection target for 2017.
This comes after reports that Sars aimed to collect over R1.6 trillion this tax season, though warning that the technical recession could have an impact.
Sars Commissioner Tom Moyane, together with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, officially launched the 2017 tax season at a Sars branch in Orlando East in Soweto on Monday morning.
“Sars has noted media reports that give an incorrect revenue target for the 2017/18 financial year following the launch of tax season by Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba and Commissioner Tom Moyane in Soweto yesterday,” the revenue service said in a statement
“Sars wishes to inform the media that the new revenue target for the 2017/18 financial year is R1.265-trillion.”
Sars said this figure was determined by the Revenue Analysis Working Committee (RAWC) comprising of National Treasury, South African Reserve Bank and Sars, which analyses and forecasts economic developments.
SARS has, for the last two years, broken the trillion rand mark when the preliminary outcome for the 2016/17 financial year was R1.144 trillion.
“This extra-ordinary revenue target has been set in a strained economic environment and will see Sars put in extra effort to continue to bolster the national purse,” Sars said.
Tax season is an opportunity for taxpayers to reconcile their personal income and tax-related deductions with Sars. This allows Sars to assess if there were any factors that were not accounted for over the tax year, thus ensuring that the taxpayer is compliant.
Last year during Tax Season, SARS received 6.31 million income tax returns.
Manual submissions through the post or at Sars drop boxes must be made by 22 September. Non-provisional taxpayers who eFile or submit their returns electronically at a Sars branch have until 24 November to file. Provisional taxpayers who eFile, have until 31 January 2018 to submit their returns.
– African News Agency (ANA)
