What if I don’t agree?

The automated system enables employers to lodge disputes via eFiling and electronically at any SARS branch, manage their tax profiles better and also have a consolidated view of all disputes lodged for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and now PAYE.

To assist employers in following the correct dispute sequence and complete all required information, eFiling now entails an entirely guided process. The eFiling guided process ensures that the dispute is submitted according to legislative requirements and thereby eliminating any possible invalid disputes from being submitted to SARS.

The PAYE dispute management process has a wide range of benefits that will make managing tax affairs more efficient.

These include:

• The ability to lodge disputes including Request for Remission (RFR), Notice of Objection (NOO) and Notice of Appeal (NOA) on eFiling platform or at your nearest SARS branch.
• The ability to Request for Reasons (RFRE) via eFiling or at the nearest SARS branch.
• The ability to request suspension of payment via eFiling or at the nearest SARS branch.
• The ability to submit reasons for late submission of the dispute via eFiling or at the nearest SARS branch.
• All dispute correspondence can be viewed at the click of a button, and where applicable, supporting documents can be uploaded via eFiling or submitted at the nearest SARS branch.
• Employers will have a consolidated view of all disputes lodged for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and now PAYE.
• Outcome letters for RFRs and NOOs, request for late submission as well as suspension of payment are conveniently available on the taxpayer’s eFiling profile.

The process provides the ability to dispute multiple periods on one dispute form up to a maximum of 12 periods for VAT and PAYE.

• The ability to submit disputes will be based on user submission rights.

Request for Reasons

SARS has implemented an electronic Request for Reasons process via eFiling and the SARS branches for Personal Income Tax (PIT), Company Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE).

The new dispute management process will introduce a separate condonation workflow whereby the employer will be allowed to submit the Request for Reasons, Notice of Objection (NOO) or Notice of Appeal (NOA) after the periods prescribed by the Dispute Resolution Rules have lapsed. Prior to the introduction of the separate workflow, the condonation process was included in the actual dispute process.

The new automated condonation process allows for SARS to attend to the request for late submission before the Dispute or Request for Reasons case can be created and considered by SARS. If the Request for Reasons, NOO or NOA was submitted late, the employer will be prompted to provide reasons for the late submission. The new condonation process will ensure that the request for late submission is aligned with legislation as SARS will inform the employer upfront of the outcome of the late submission instead of classifying the dispute as invalid.

Employers are able to request suspension of payments pending the outcome of a dispute on PAYE via eFiling or at the nearest SARS branch. This is in line with already implemented suspension of payments that was implemented for PIT, CIT and VAT.

Corrections

If you realise you made a mistake, the Request for Correction process allows you the ability to correct a previously submitted return/declaration for Income Tax or Value-Added Tax (VAT).

Disputes

If you don’t agree with the outcome of the audit/verification, you can dispute the outcome. To dispute the outcome of your assessment, a specific process must be followed.

• You can object. You must submit your objection on the correct form.
• To dispute a Personal Income Tax Administrative Penalty, you will first need to send a Request for Remission (RFR01).
• If you don’t agree with the outcome of an objection, you can appeal.

As a taxpayer you have the right to lodge an appeal where your objection hasn’t been allowed in full or in part. The appeal must be lodged within 30 business days from the date the objection was disallowed or partially allowed.

Administrative penalties

If a taxpayer doesn’t pay their tax debts (this includes penalties) by the due date, SARS is allowed to recover money held by third parties on behalf of the taxpayer. Third parties could be an employer or a bank.

This means that if you didn’t respond to any of the notices or demands informing you of your outstanding tax debts, SARS may appoint your employer or any other third party who holds money on your behalf, to pay the outstanding amounts to SARS.

* Information obtained from www.sars.gov.za