SARS glitches sorted

LAST week’s glitches in the roll-out of a new‚ single registration system for taxpayers have been fixed.

Tax practitioners were unable to validate public officers of the companies they represent and struggled to identify themselves at branch offices and call centres as valid practitioners in South African Revenue Service (SARS) new system.

Public officers have to be validated by the person at the company who gave them the mandate to submit the company’s tax returns. The new system is meant to result in a faster turnaround time for first-time registration applic and simpler processes for official taxpayer representatives.

On Friday‚ SARS met several accredited bodies that represent tax practitioners in a bid to iron out problems experienced since Wednesday.

Tax practitioners said the new system had impeded their ability to function. This followed a letter sent out by SARS warning practitioners of changes to the registration process with effect from this month for individuals and companies.

The changes were due to apply across various tax types‚ with a focus on income tax‚ value added tax‚ pay as you earn‚ and customs and excise.

SARS head of service escalations and support Mark Kingon said the single registration system brought with it a new electronic manner of registration. But the challenge was that the authorised person at a company must validate that the registered tax practitioner is mandated to act on behalf of the taxpayer.

Kingon said SARS was busy tightening up security over taxpayer identity. The new system had been prompted by increase in cyber crime and misuse of identities‚ he said.

“One of the things we have highlighted is that a registered representative of a company who is not a tax practitioner but a public officer‚ has to be validated and there is a challenge in that regard‚” he said.

Tax practitioners had to be authenticated through the SARS call centre or a branch office. Hitches in this regard were addressed at the weekend.

Sharon Smulders‚ head of tax technical policy and research at the SA Institute for Tax Professionals‚ said tax practitioners had struggled to register new businesses and new taxpayers and there was “chaos” when they were unable to validate themselves on the system. Controlling bodies had been given two weeks’ grace by SARS to submit the information of their members and have it verified. — BDLive