Share

Tax ombud gets more bite

Johannesburg - Recent legislative amendments are set to make the Office of the Tax Ombudsman more independent of the SA Revenue Service (SARS) in a move that should benefit ordinary taxpayers when they report an issue to the ombud.

The office, which is a fairly young institution with a limited track record – it was set up in October 2013 – saw its proposal for the amendment to the Tax Administration Act get the nod last year. The amendment came into effect in January.

Under the tutelage of its ombudsman, Judge Bernard Ngoepe, the office’s accounting officer and CEO, Advocate Eric Mkhawane, said the recent major changes to the legislation, which were initially proposed by the office, had gone a long way towards strengthening the role of the organisation.

READ: Something is rotten in RSA, cautions tax ombud

Mkhawane said this week that because the office was established under SARS and funded by it, people doubted its independence, but the amendments would change that.

The office, which received its budget from SARS, appointed staff in consultation with the revenue service and had previously been confined to a reactive role by being unable to propose or initiate its own investigations when it wanted to.

Changes to the above are among those that came into effect at the end of January.

Mkhawane said the changes had added more bite to the office’s ombud work and would hopefully translate to more accountability in time.

“Previously, we could not initiate any investigation, however serious,” he said, adding that the office would now be able to red-flag certain trends and alert SARS beforehand. 

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.41
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.33
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.0%
Platinum
908.05
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.94
+1.3%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders