SARS problems

[Odendaal]

Hi everyone, I am asking this for a friend (really, it's not me in this predicament lol!)

 

Anyway, he is looking at going back to SA but because he's having some disputes with SARS - he's afraid of being arrested as soon as he lands on home soil. We are talking less than R50 000 penalty fees because he hasn't been doing his SA tax returns for the past 4 years. Should he be afraid? Has anyone been in this situation before?

 

Thanks

 

 

[tcmiller]

I doubt he'd be arrested. I had a work colleague who hadn't done tax returns for 3 years and just had some penalty fines he had to pay. 

[Minime]

I also doubt he will be arrested (South Africa is a bit slow with these things...). He should maybe just contact an accounting firm as they will probably be able to assist him with this.

[CyberJoe]

Hi @Odendaal. Chances of him getting arrested is almost non-existent. SARS would first have to make an official case against him and trust me, by that time your friend would be well and truly aware of their intentions. That being said, he needs to sort any outstanding tax issues out ASAP. Australia and South Africa have tax agreements in place and while it might take a good few years for them to actually assign an auditor to your friends case, eventually this will be escalated and hiding in Aus will not be an option.

[SurferMan]

@Odendaal

 

Very unlikely, I have had tax disputes with SARS for the best part of 6 years and there was never talk of arrest. It would be a most unusual thing for them to do.