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Johannesburg - About 200 rich South Africans are now registered with the SA Revenue Service (SARS) in a drive to corner wealthy tax evaders, Business Report wrote on Monday.
It said at least another 300 will be registered this year by the high-net-worth-individual unit that was set up last year.
These include chairpersons, chief executives and directors of top firms.
The identification of candidates SARS wanted to investigate in its campaign to root out rich tax dodgers was based on public information on salaries, bonuses, share options and the sale and purchase of shares by directors of listed companies.
Notices of company take-overs, new appointments or the retirement of top management also provided information.
Dodging taxes
This had generated a huge workload for officials, with SARS having made contact with more than 500 top earners, said chief operating officer Edward Kieswetter.
"Typically high earners have five to 10 entities ... housing their assets," he said.
"So, SARS is looking at between 1 000 and 2 000 entities."
The campaign began last year after SARS realised that many rich South Africans pay no or very little tax.
It focuses on those who earn between R5m and R40m a year or have net assets exceeding R75m.
The idea is to move the tax files of the wealthy, which are scattered throughout the system, to the new unit, for them to be comprehensively assessed.