THE value of VAT refunds which had not been refunded by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) by the end of last month amounted to R19.6-billion of the R129.3-billion claimed during the 2016-17 tax year‚ Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said yesterday.
His written reply to a parliamentary question by DA deputy finance spokesman Alf Lees comes in the wake of the announcement that the finance ministry has given Tax Ombud Judge Bernard Ngoepe the go-ahead to conduct a systemic investigation of tax refunds by SARS.
The ombud has been inundated with complaints about delays by SARS in paying refunds and allegations have been made that the tax authority is withholding tax refunds to boost its tax revenue collection performance.
SARS is due to announce the amount of revenue collected in 2016-17 early next month.
Gordhan said the information he was providing had been submitted by SARS and had not been verified by the Treasury.
Gordhan said the total value of VAT refunds still being audited at the end of last month was R17.3billion compared with R12-billion as at February 29 last year.
A total of 343 674 VAT refunds were claimed in 2016-17‚ of which 43 650 claims had not been refunded.
He said that only returns required during the period in question were included and all late returns and/or carry over returns from previous years were excluded.
The value of VAT refunds claimed for the period March 1 2015 to February 29 last year was R128-billion‚ of which R18-billion had not been refunded by February 29 last year.
The total number of VAT refunds claimed for the period March 1 2015 to February 29 last year was 341 167, of which 34 132 claims had not been refunded.
Regarding diesel refunds‚ Gordhan said claims for the period from March 1 last year to February 28 this year were R2.6-billion‚ of which R657-million had not been refunded by February 28.
The value of diesel refunds claimed for the 2015-16 year was R6.7-billion, of which R806-million had not been refunded by February 29 last year.
The number of diesel refunds claimed for the period March 1 last year to February 28 this year was 55 547, of which 6 064 had not been refunded by February 28.