With effect from 16 September 2022, The South African Revenue Services (SARS) discontinued the use of the IT14SD return. This return was previously used by SARS where a taxpayer was selected for verification (which is a high-level review of the taxpayer's income tax return).

Over the last 2 weeks, SARS has started to issue a series of new verification/audit letters to taxpayers.

These verification letters are both manual and system generated and call for various information, ranging from holistic overviews to detailed transactions.

Please be aware that the additional compliance requirement from SARS is placing addition strain on the tax administration within SARS, with a knock-on effect on our own resources and time spent on these SARS audits.

Review of the taxpayer's tax computation could also lead to further follow-up queries by SARS calling for additional documentation or adjustments to the taxpayer's assessments and taxes payable.

We therefore recommend full co-operations with SARS and a speedy response to our requests for additional information as SARS provide tight deadlines for submission/resolution.

There is no doubt that the new SARS strategy focuses on additional tax income - inclusive of continuous audit and tax collection processes. 

At PKF (VGA) we view tax and tax administration as critical services without our business.

Please be assured all SARS queries recieve our attention a the highest level - and that maintaining a clear tax clearance position for all tax payers, remains priority.

PKF (VGA)