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MBABANE - Director of A.M.S Building Contractors (Pty) Ltd, Carlos Dos Santos, has been convicted of under-declaring VAT of E5 million.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of E2 000.
When the charge was read to him, the businessman pleaded guilty and the court proceeded to find him guilty as per his own plea.
The matter was before Magistrate Lucia Lukhele at the Matsapha Magistrates Court.
According to the charge sheet, on or about July 20, 2021, Carlos submitted a Value Added Tax (VAT) return as per the requirement of the Act.
When he was requested to substantiate the return with a schedule, it was discovered that he under-declared output tax with an amount of E5 million. The E5 million relates to an invoice issued to and paid by Matsapha Link in 2021.
Charged
He was charged with one count of contravening Section 64 (1) (b) of the Value Added Tax Act No.12 of 2011 in that, on or about July 20, 2021, at or near Matsapha in the Manzini Region, being the director for A.M.S. Building Contractors (Pty) Ltd, he unlawfully and wrongfully omitted in the company’s value added tax return and supporting schedule, invoice number 005 amounting to E5 000 000 as output tax for the period April to June 2021, and thereby under-declared output tax, and thus contravened the said provisions of the Act.
In mitigation, he stated that it was a genuine mistake, and he misplaced the invoice in question, hence he was sentenced to pay E2 000 or to a term of imprisonment of two years.
Statement
The Act states that a person who omits from the statement made to an officer any matter or thing without which the statement is misleading commits an offence and is liable to conviction to a fine not less than E6 000 but not exceeding E15 000 or imprisonment term not exceeding six years where the statement or omission was knowingly or recklessly. In other cases, one is made to pay a fine of not less than E2 000 but not exceeding E6 000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.
Carlos was represented by Sifiso Matse while appearing for the Crown was Lando Sibandze.
In an almost similar case, a businesswoman was recently sentenced to 10 years for illegitimately charging VAT to customers.
Nokwazi Siphokazi Gama, who is a director of Kwazimbali Investments (PTY) Limited, a company which sells and services fire extinguishers, reportedly charged same in her invoices and did not remit the money to Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) as per the requirements of the law.
Guilty
Gama (33) of Bhunya under Chief Valamuva Maseko was charged jointly with her company. When she appeared before Manzini Principal Magistrate David Khumalo, she pleaded guilty to the charge.
The court then found her guilty as per her own plea and proceeded to sentence her to 10 years imprisonment with a fine option of E10 000. Half of the sentence was suspended.
In order for a person to charge VAT, he or she must first register. Furthermore, after registration, the person or company is issued with a certificate by the commissioner general of the ERS.
The person or company then collects the VAT and remits it to the ERS.
According to the charge, Gama and her company violated Section 64 of the Value Added Tax Act number 12 as amended by Section 14 (5) (b) of the Value Added Tax Act 10 of 2022, in that the former charged same knowing very well her company was not authorised and/ or registered to do so.