Sars refunds R2.4bn since Friday

South African businesses are getting a boost from the taxman with the South African revenue services (Sars) giving back R2.4 billion over the four days of the nationwide lockdown, from Friday, March 27.

Sars is paying out tax refunds early as part of the state’s bid to mitigate the economic impact coming from the enforced shutdown of South Africa’s businesses. The enforced lockdown is the drastic step taken to curb the spread of the deadly Coivid-19 virus.

In a statement, the tax collector said it has paid out refunds to large businesses amounting to R1.1 billion and R1.3 billion to small, medium and micro-enterprises.

It said: “The payment of refunds represents a major cash injection into the economy at a very critical period. Sars can only do this if taxpayers and traders remain compliant by fulfilling their filing and payment obligations even during the lockdown.

“Sars has made available the following online channels, namely, MobiApp, eFiling, e@syFile, email and the Sars Contact Centre (0800 00 7277) to fulfil these obligations.”

It urged taxpayers and traders are to use these channels to make payments that are due on or before March 31 2020.

It also said that it was “imperative that various categories of businesses in distress continue to be compliant in order to access the tax relief measures that government has put in place to counter the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

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