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Johannesburg - Pravin Gordhan, commissioner of the SA Revenue Service (Sars), will reportedly be redeployed in a new position in government before the end of the year.
He was quoted in the Sunday Times as saying that he thought it was time to move on after ten years as head of the tax collection service.
Gordhan (59) reportedly said he had the energy for one more significant public service task.
"All of us should accept that there is a transition that we're going through - 20-odd days away - and once the new administration is in place, each of us will know what our marching orders are and how we could serve South Africa and the public sector differently and better," he told the newspaper.
Recently, the media reported on a number of possibilities, including that Gordhan could succeed Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. There have also been reports that he could follow up Absa's new CEO Maria Ramos as head of Transnet.
The ANC has delayed the appointment of Transnet CEO until after the election. According to some reports, however, the party wanted Siyabonga Gama, current head of Transnet Freight Rail, as the new CEO, while the board favoured Gordhan.
The Sunday Times speculated that Gordhan could get a senior position in the presidency, overseeing finance and planning.
In the last few months in his current position, Gordhan will devote much of his energy to crack down on tax evaders. As the economy started to falter, Sars came in under target for the first time in ten years.
Gordhan told the Business Times, the business section of the Sunday Times, that there's a lot of "sponginess" in South Africa - "meaning lots of people who should pay a little bit more who are not paying a little bit more, and it's our job to find them".
Specialists at Sars will look more closely at the way high net-worth individuals structure their finances and use trusts to avoid tax liabilities.
A newly formed Sars team will pore over financials of large companies.
"One of the things that we have to anticipate and work with is higher levels of non-compliance and newer types of non-compliance. We've seen that in this past month in SA. Some fairly major corporates are going to have some questions to answer in the coming months," he told the Business Times.
Sars collected R625.57bn in the past financial year, 9% more than in the previous year, but 0.34% lower than its revised target set out in the February budget.
- Fin24.com