Disclosure of taxpayer data questioned
COURT: PUBLIC PROTECTOR’S BID STAYED
Sars, Chapter 9 institution and court will discuss whether taxpayer information may be handed over, with reference to Zuma.
She issued a subpoena on the same matter in October last year when Mark Kingon was acting commissioner at Sars. Kieswetter said in an attempt to avoid litigation then, officials from both state organs jointly briefed counsel to seek a legal opinion.
“The opinion – provided to Sars and the public protector – clearly sets out in my mind, and confirms, that Sars cannot be compelled to provide taxpayer information to the public protector.”
Kieswetter referred to the specific provisions in the TAA that allow for the disclosure of taxpayer confidential information to a third party other than a Sars official.
However, this does not include the public protector’s office, nor does the Public Protector Act contain a provision that overrides the TAA’s confidentiality provisions.
Kieswetter said that it is in every taxpayer’s interest that they obtain legal clarity on whether taxpayers have a right to privacy, which concerns the right to confidentiality of all information – personal and financial – held by the tax authority.
When asked whether it is not in the public interest that some information be disclosed, Kieswetter said the matter of public interest does not stand uncontested.
The legislators, when they drafted the Act, did consider the issue of public interest.
“They drafted the law clearly expressing the view that the confidentiality of a taxpayer’s information is an overriding public interest when deciding whether we disclose a matter that may be newsworthy,” he said.
“We do not appeal to sensationalism,” he added.
“When we administer the Act we do so without fear, favour or prejudice, and we treat each taxpayer equal before the law.”
Kieswetter said he was encouraged by the fact that the two organs of state agreed, and that it was endorsed by the courts, that the subpoena would not be enforced as was initially intended.