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Cape Town - The South African Revenue Service (Sars) is not targeting high-profile people simply because they are public figures.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, in response to a question in parliament by Dion George of the Democratic Alliance (DA) as to whether Sars was investigating the tax affairs of ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, said lifestyle audits did not single out high-profile people.
Nevertheless, he added, individuals who for instance are involved in state tenders and fail to declare their income cannot complain if they are indeed targeted.
After Malema's involvement in companies receiving state tenders became known, there were calls from various quarters for Sars to subject him to a lifestyle audit. But in terms of tax legislation such audits must be kept confidential.
Since 2007, 4 787 audits have been done on individuals suspected of tax evasion or fraud.
Sars conducts lifestyle audits on people whose tax affairs raise suspicion. Therefore, the next time you receive income, just fill in a form and declare it, Gordhan advised.
Although the ideal would be to conduct a lifestyle audit on every individual, this was not possible, he explained.
Gordhan commented that progress had been made regarding state procurement fraud, but purchasing structures still had to be revised.
National Treasury wanted greater centralisation of the processing of large state purchases, in particular.
In the coming weeks various ministers will report on the billions of rands that can be saved in state purchasing contracts through alterations to government procurement processes.
Last year Sars collected an additional R23bn thanks to more stringent action against those failing to declare their income.
Sars commissioner Oupa Magashula said this success would enable Sars to act much more strictly in future. He commented that tax avoidance was on the increase worldwide.
Earlier in April Sars announced an over-collection of about R8bn in tax revenue for the past fiscal year. This reduced the budget deficit from 7.4% to 6.8% of the gross domestic product.
- Sake24.com
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