Sars issues apology to taxpayers over termination of Adobe Flash Player services

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) issued an apology to taxpayers for the disruption in their services following the termination of support from Adobe Flash Player platform services on January 12.

The revenue service stated they had duly taken note of Adobe’s notice to discontinue support for some of its products beyond December 2020 and had therefore already migrated the vast majority of its most critical forms to alternative platforms, most notably HTML5.

“Sars had, until now, focused on the major tax types with the highest volumes. These are largely completed and operationally stable.

“While noting the discontinuation of Adobe support, we erred in our interpretation that the functionality would continue beyond the support date.  This error has created frustration to many taxpayers to whom we owe an apology,” the revenue service stated. 

According to Sars, they had planned the migration of all forms as a priority. However, as part of its mandate, Sars administers many taxes and compliance mechanisms. This leads to many submission requirements and interactions that require the capturing and submitting of data through many different forms.

“In addition to the high number of forms that are required to be migrated from Adobe Flash Player to the chosen HTML5 platform, the migration itself is very complex and requires the development, testing and deployment of new forms.

“These contain many data fields, which are underpinned by thousands of technical, administrative and complex business rules to ensure integrity of data, efficient processing and accurate assessment results.

“It is due to this complexity and the need to deliver properly tested and working forms that Sars prioritised the major tax types with the highest volumes with the rest planned for 2021.”

The following remedial actions will be implemented to assist taxpayers experiencing issues:

• Sars has set up an eBooking system, which is accessible immediately, through their website on www.sars.gov.za in order to assist taxpayers facing challenges on how to navigate their system and where to find the necessary documents.
• Affected taxpayers also have immediate access to a Frequently Ask Questions (FAQs) document on www.sars.gov.za to help them in fulfilling their legal obligations. The FAQs only deals with Adobe Flash Player issues.
• Sars will establish a dedicated toll-free number specifically to provide further assistance to taxpayers. This Sars said would be established in dur course. The number is only to be used resolve the Flash Adobe challenges. Other enquires can be directed to the Sars contact centre.
• Sars is actively engaging with the Recognised Controlling Bodies (RCBs). SARS and the RCBs are working together to find workable solutions for the tax practitioner segment. Sars has commissioned a virtual support hub to provide technical support to this cohort of taxpayers in the interim. The virtual support hub will be effective next week.

Over the past year Sars has already migrated several high volume forms to an alternative platform, namely HTML5.

Forms with the greatest volumes migrated to the alternative platform

All returns required for the submission of:

• Income Tax for individuals
• Company Income Tax
• Trusts
• PAYE Declarations and related employment tax forms
• VAT Declarations and related forms

Forms still to be migrated to alternative platforms (currently unsupported)

• Registration, Amendments and Verification Form- RAV01
• Tax Compliance Status Request- TCR01
• Dividends Tax Transactions Information DTR01
• Excise Duties and Levies EXD01
• Manual Declaration of financial Certificates IT3-01 and IT3-02
• Transfer Duty Declarations TDC01

“In line with the service commitment of Sars, the organisation will spare no effort in resolving these matters as speedily as possible.”

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