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A summary of the 2021 tax filing season for individuals has revealed that over 4.3 million non-provisional tax returns had been submitted to date, a 46% increase from the previous season.

This was on Monday revealed by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, in a statement.

In it, the Commissioner thanked all individual non-provisional taxpayers who filed their income tax returns by the extended deadline of 2 December 2021. He also extended similar gratitude to all intermediaries and stakeholders who support the strengthening of the tax ecosystem.

“Such voluntary compliance reinforces our belief that most taxpayers want to do the right thing and meet their legal obligations. We are working very hard to make this important task easy and simple by providing clarity and certainty and whilst expanding online channels through which taxpayers can transact with our organization.

“Despite many challenges, including COVID-19 restrictions, load shedding and our own internal limitations, we are pleased that our strategic intent of promoting voluntary compliance is gradually gaining momentum as can be seen in the statistics and trends for this filing season which are very encouraging under the circumstances,” he said.

He said the increase in voluntary compliance was made possible through a virtual filing season, which aimed to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on taxpayers, staff and other citizens.

“Coincidentally, the shift towards a virtual tax filing season is directly aligned to our vision of building a smart, modern SARS that is trusted and admired.”

Of those, over 2.6 million were submitted via eFiling, an increase of 7%, with 523 659 returns submitted via the MobiApp, a 59% increase.

Over 306 000 returns were submitted via our branches, this was an encouraging 15% decrease. SARS agents assisted taxpayers through virtual appointments, or later in branches after they reopened on 16 August.

The revenue collector during the season also introduced an SMS service, which allowed taxpayers to book an appointment, request their tax number and check if they needed to submit a return.

At the launch of the filing season on 1 July, SARS made several commitments to taxpayers about what they could expect.

Kieswetter said he would review some of these commitments against what was achieved by the end of filing season on 2 December 2021.

“We committed SARS to expand the use of the auto-assessment service to more than 3 million taxpayers. This filing season SARS sent out 3.4 million auto assessments. Over 2.2 million taxpayers have accepted the auto assessment, with more than 1.5 million accepting without any changes.

“This represents a 74% acceptance rate of a new service offering. Regrettably, more than 630 000 taxpayers neither accepted nor edited their returns. SARS will be sending estimated assessments, to taxpayers that have not taken any action,” he said.

In the 2021 tax season, SARS undertook to provide at least 8 out of every 10 taxpayers with an assessment outcome in under 5 seconds. This year 93% of assessments were issued in under 5 seconds. Last year it was 85%.

“We also committed to pay at least 7 out of every 10 taxpayers their refund if it is due, within 72 hours. This year SARS paid out refunds to 86% of taxpayers within 72 hours. Last year, 77.38% of refunds were paid within 72 hours. In all, we paid out more than R17 billion in refunds. The average refund was R11 000.

“We undertook to conclude 7 out of every 10 verification audits within 21 days. We have missed this target of 70%, reaching only 67% of audits completed in this time-frame. Last year, we concluded 62% of audits within 21 working days, so there has been an increase,” reads the statement.

Despite the measurable progress, the Commissioner said the organisation would have to work to continually improve its service culture and standards, expand taxpayer education offerings, and promote the online platforms and digital offerings created to interact with taxpayers, among other things.

He said taxpayers must note that as previously announced, SARS would levy penalties from January 2022 where one of more returns are outstanding.

The Commissioner said the revenue collector’s rebuilding of SARS was slowly progressing.

“In pursuit of our strategic intent of voluntary compliance, it is important that we step up our efforts to provide certainty and clarity to taxpayers whilst working hard to make it easier to comply.

“At the same time our ability to detect and respond to non-compliance has shown marked improvement, but we must do more to deter and prosecute dishonest taxpayers and traders. These strategic objectives are implicit in our modernisation journey which increasingly will be built on a platform that augments human effort with data-driven insights and enabling technology,” he said.

South Africa’s COVID-19 death toll has now crossed the 90 000 mark after 27 more people lost their lives to the virus on Tuesday.

The reported 27 deaths bring the total number of deaths to 90 002.

Meanwhile, 52 890 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, with 13 147 new cases, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said.

According to the NICD, Gauteng remains the epicentre with 8 445 new infections reported. It is followed by 1 396 cases in KwaZulu-Natal, 805 in the Western Cape and 720 in the North West, representing a 24.9% positivity rate.

This means there is now a caseload of 3 051 222 since the outbreak.

In addition, the Department of Health announced that 140 281 vaccine doses were given since the last reporting cycle, of which 29 965 were administered to children.

The latest distributed vaccines take the total to 26 639 293, while the country is now home to 14 908 420 or 37.2% fully jabbed adults.

Meanwhile, the number of adolescents who have taken the first jab of the Pfizer vaccine has now increased to 652 197.

Globally, as of 7 December 2021, there have been 265 713 467 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5 260 888 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Global view

According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, the case incidence plateaued between 29 November and 5 December, with over four million confirmed new cases reported, similar to the number reported in the previous week’s figures.

However, new weekly deaths increased by 10% as compared to the previous week, with over 52 500 additional fatalities reported.

Africa and the region of the Americas recorded increases in new weekly cases of 79% and 21%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions both logged decreases of 10%.

In addition, new weekly cases reported by the European and Eastern Mediterranean regions were similar to the numbers reported in the previous week.

New weekly deaths peaked by 49% in the South-East Asia region and 38% in the Americas, while the weekly deaths dipped in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions by 13% and 8%, respectively.

“The number of new deaths was similar to those reported in the previous week in both the European and the Western Pacific regions,” the WHO added.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States (752 394 new cases a 30% increase), Germany (396 429 new cases, similar to the previous week’s figures), the United Kingdom (310 696 new cases, similar to the previous week’s figures), France (283 500 new cases, a 49% increase) and Russia (231 240 new cases, similar to the previous week’s figures).

At present, the WHO said the Omicron variant cases have been reported in 57 countries across all the agency’s regions.

“While most of the cases identified in these countries are currently travel‐related, this may change as more information becomes available,” it said.

Of 899 935 sequences uploaded to GISAID with specimens collected in the last 60 days, 897 886 (99.8%) were Delta, 713 (0.1%) were Omicron, 286 (less than 0.1%) Gamma, 154 (less than 0.1%) Alpha, 64 (less than 0.1%) Beta and less than 0.1% comprised other circulating variants including Mu and Lambda.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will from 1 March 2022, introduce changes to its systems, in an effort to prevent large tax return debt for taxpayers who receive income from more than one source.

This, SARS said in a statement on Wednesday, would benefit taxpayers where one of the sources was income from a retirement fund. Until then, such taxpayers ended up with a large tax debt payable to SARS after assessment of their income tax return.

“SARS is aware that a significant tax debt can arise at year-end when all sources of income are combined in order to determine taxable income and the tax due,” it said.

In response to this, recently introduced legislation makes provision for SARS to determine the effective rate of tax in respect of the combined employment and/or pension sources of income of a taxpayer.

SARS said the effective rate of tax was based on the latest data available to SARS and that the rate would be provided to the retirement fund administrators for purposes of withholding Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) based on that data.

This rate was then made available via e@syFile™ to the employer and would only apply to taxpayers who have a form of retirement income.

SARS said its PAYE system allowed for a taxpayer to request to be taxed monthly at a higher rate so that any tax due at year-end was adequately covered. However, not many taxpayers who fall into the category are making use of this option.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said the organisation remains committed to providing clarity and certainty to taxpayers about their legal obligations. SARS also strives to make it easy to comply through system changes such as this.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has warned the public of scams that are defrauding taxpayers.

The syndicate saw fraudulent incidents or unauthorised changes of tax practitioners and/or taxpayers’ eFiling profiles changed with the sole intention to defraud SARS and affected taxpayers.

SARS in a statement said the fraudulent activities were carried out by individuals who gain access to eFiling profiles through phishing or other nefarious scams to change a legitimate taxpayer’s bank details to divert refunds.

The revenue collector said the individuals also submitted fraudulent tax returns to generate refunds.

It said: “SARS takes all necessary steps to mitigate security breaches of our information systems and there is no evidence of the SARS systems being hacked; instead they remain secure.

“In the past week, several changes were implemented to augment the integrity of the SARS systems”.

The changes include a process to advise tax practitioners when their access to taxpayer/client profiles are removed as well as an enhanced personal income tax and eFiling registration process, amongst others.

SARS said the changes were done to make it difficult for criminal elements to obtain sensitive information and then perpetrate fraud.

To safeguard eFiling profiles, SARS has urged tax practitioners to ensure that profile credentials were not shared within their practices or companies.

“All eFiling user access within practices or companies must be routinely reviewed and where required employee access should be revoked, particularly when an employee leaves the practice or company. The public is urged to always be alert for phishing scams that call for the sharing of sensitive identity and banking details,” SARS said.

Incidents of fraudulent or unauthorised changes of eFiling profiles can be reported to the SARS Anti-Corruption and Fraud Hotline on 0800 00 2870. Taxpayers and tax practitioners are urged not to use social media platforms, such as Facebook, to report such incidents or disclose sensitive information.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter has sent a strong message to fraudsters engaged in the swindle. “Let me leave no one in doubt about SARS’ capacity and capability to deal a massive blow to those hell-bent on these criminal activities.”

Working with other law enforcement agencies, SARS said it would leave no stone unturned to hunt and find these criminals.

“This is no idle threat, be warned,” said the Commissioner.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has welcomed the Western Cape High Court judgment dismissing wine producers’ body, Vinpro’s challenge of the constitutionality and lawfulness of liquor bans imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the Ministry said Vinpro launched the application to ostensibly vindicate the constitutional values of respect for the rule of law, inter-governmental co-operation and public accountability.

It also sought to vindicate various constitutional rights, arguing, amongst others, that the power to impose restrictions on retail sales of liquor is exclusively vested in the provincial sphere of government.

“The Minister, representing the national government, successfully argued that the regulations were not aimed at addressing the impact of alcohol on society generally but were rather aimed at capacitating the health system during trying times.

“This, because South Africa has a much higher burden of alcohol-related trauma cases than experienced in many other countries,” said the Ministry in a statement on Wednesday.

Dlamini Zuma further successfully argued that the provisions of Section 26(2)(b) of the Disaster Management Act stipulate that the national executive must deal with a national disaster in terms of existing legislation and contingency arrangements as augmented by regulations or directions made or issued in terms of section 27(2), if a national state of disaster has been declared.

The Ministry said government remains committed to saving lives and protecting livelihoods as the country continues to grapple with COVID-19.

It said it was also important to note that although the regulations had the effect of suspending or limiting the sale and distribution of liquor, it would have done so in furtherance of the objective of reducing the socio-economic and other costs of alcohol use.

This also included promoting the development of a responsible and sustainable liquor industry as the envisaged result thereof was to ease the pressure on the health care system at a time when it was placed under severe strain by the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed grave disappointment at rich countries who have hoarded the much-needed COVID-19 vaccines.

“The greed that they demonstrated is something that is quite disappointing indeed, particularly when they say they are our partners. The lives of people in Africa are just as important as the lives in Europe, in North America, and all over the world,” he said.

The President was speaking during the seventh session of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in the Senegalese capital on Monday.

He said the most critical aspect at this time, is the ongoing negotiations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a temporary waiver of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) for the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Whilst this is being negotiated, this is where you really see the interests of the more developed economies, the rich countries, through their refusal to accede to this proposal to waive the TRIPS requirement. This is the type of vaccine apartheid we say must come to an end, because the health of people around the world is at stake,” he said.

The President emphasised that for Africa to meet the challenge presented by new variants, “we cannot wait around for vaccines to be allocated to us as we were forced to in the past.”

He has called on sister African countries to support the proposal.

This as African nations are faced with the task to drive a recovery that is sustainable, inclusive and that leaves no one and no country behind.

“Manufacturing our own vaccines isn’t just a safe and fast way to get access to the lifesaving medication to protect our people. It is also a critical component of economic recovery.”

The manufacturing of vaccines on the continent will further support the growth of African pharmaceutical manufacturing, create jobs, result in critical skills and knowledge transfer, and develop new African industries and businesses.

However, the President said that they are optimistic that the partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing launched earlier this year, will help in achieving the goal of increasing vaccine manufacturing to more than 60% by 2040.

“It is in this regard that we have already identified a number of countries that have the capability and all it takes from a manufacturing point of view to be able to be manufacturers of vaccines, and South Africa and Senegal are among the countries with that capability and must be allowed to do so,” he said.

Travel bans

Addressing travel bans imposed on South Africa has been the President’s priority during his four-nation visit to West Africa. He has spoken out against Western countries that have imposed travel bans on South Africa.

He said that when South African scientists discovered Omicron, they immediately took on the responsibility of informing the entire world. However Western countries responded by imposing the ban.

“They basically say we will not allow you to travel. However, this new variant continues to spread across the globe, beyond Southern Africa, including in their own countries,” he said.

The President questioned the science behind the bans against South Africa and other southern African countries.

“We say those bans must be removed with immediate effect, so that our people can travel all around the world,” he said.

The President’s Senegalese counterpart, President Macky Sall, echoed the same sentiment saying that the Omicron variant is all over the world.

“Isolating a country which has isolated the virus is counter-productive because it is a way to call others not to publish, so we need to work in solidarity with responding,” said President Sall.

Public Service Commission Commissioner Michael Seloane says non-payment of suppliers by government departments impacts negatively on businesses.

Seloane said evidence has shown that the departments are not adhering to the principles of efficient and effective use of public resources and accountability.

Addressing a media briefing in Pretoria earlier today, Seloane said unpaid invoices have the potential of destabilising any business, especially the SMMEs whose lifeblood is the sufficient availability of cash flow, which ultimately impact negatively on government’s initiative of achieving its job creation and economic growth outcomes.

“In discharging its constitutional mandate, the PSC has been monitoring the payments of suppliers within the prescribed period since the 2017/18 financial year,” he said.

Seloane said non-compliance has impacted negatively on small businesses with some of the suppliers forced to close their doors.

“The PSC welcomes the consideration by the Minister of Finance in terms of the small business support measures to enable these businesses to bounce back from the negative impact of COVID-19 and the economic hardship,” Seloane said.

He said there has been some improvements in some departments even though some departments and provinces continue to fail to adhere to the PFMA requirements.

Seloane acknowledged that there has been some improvements in the payment of suppliers by the national departments as compared to the first quarter.

“The challenge remains on the late and non-submission of reports by departments to the National Treasury, such as the Department of Traditional Affairs and the department of Correctional Services and Justice and Constitutional Development failed to submit their reports for September 2021,” he said.

Seloane said provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West are still facing major challenges in terms of the 30-day payments and have the highest amounts owed to suppliers.

As at end of September 2021, the Eastern Cape recorded 4 648 invoices with a related cost of R2 280 024 142 as compared to 8 057 invoices with a related cost of R2 228 122 449 as at the end of September 2021.

For Gauteng, 4 855 invoices with a related cost of R1 044 398 803 was recorded at the end of September 2021 as compared to 1 677 invoices with a related cost of R790 771 938 as at end of June 2021.

The North West province recorded 4 340 invoices with a related cost of R266 912 565 at the end of September 2021 as compared to 5 527 invoices with a related cost of R456 021 865 at end of June 2021.

Motorists can now significantly reduce transaction times for the renewal of motor vehicle licences at the Post Office by first registering on the National Traffic Information System (NATIS) website.

According to The South African Post Office (SAPO), drivers who are registered on NATIS will then receive a reminder via an SMS with a reference number before renewal is due.

“Vehicle owners can also choose to receive a reminder with the same information through email,” SAPO said on Tuesday.

Presenting the SMS or printed renewal reminder eliminates several steps for the renewal transaction at a Post Office counter and saves a great deal of time.

To speed up the renewal process, the renewal notice can be printed by customers and presented at the Post Office when renewing the vehicle licence.

Motorists can go to https://www.natis.gov.za/ and click on online services, then vehicle renewals to register and subsequently download and print the notice, or to receive a renewal reminder SMS.

In the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, proof of address is required every second year and the safest option is to bring along proof of address when renewing your vehicle licence.

Post Office branches offer a bulk drop-off and collect service for fleet renewals.

This is impractical for private motorists since there may be traffic fines outstanding that have to be paid first before the system allows the licence to be renewed.

However, where the Post Office logo appears on the printed traffic fine, it can also be paid at any branch.

In addition, cards and cash are accepted as payment for motor vehicle licences.

Meanwhile, SAPO said its online renewal facility for motor vehicle licences has been delayed by administrative and legal requirements and is expected to be launched in early 2022.

South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 1.5% in the third quarter of 2021, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said on Tuesday.

During this period, the trade, catering and accommodation industry decreased by 5.5%, contributing -0.7 of a percentage point to GDP growth.

The statistics agency said decreased economic activities were reported for wholesale, retail and motor trade, and catering and accommodation services.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said between July and September, the manufacturing industry decreased by 4.2% in the third quarter, contributing -0.5 of a percentage point to GDP growth.

“Eight of the ten manufacturing divisions reported negative growth rates in the third quarter. The motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment division made the largest contribution to the decrease in the third quarter.

“The food and beverages division and basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division also made noteworthy contributions to the contraction. The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry decreased by 13.6% and contributed -0.4 of a percentage point to GDP growth,” he said.

The Statistician-General said the decrease was mainly due to decreased production of field crops and animal products.

“The transport, storage and communication industry decreased by 2.2%, contributing -0.2 of a percentage point. Decreased economic activity was reported for land transport and air transport. Unadjusted real GDP at market prices for the first nine months of 2021 increased by 5.8% compared with the first nine months of 2020.”

Expenditure on real GDP during this period decreased by 1.6%.

Household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) decreased by 24% in the third quarter, contributing -1.6 percentage points to total growth.

Stats SA said the largest decreases were reported for expenditures on durable and non-durable goods. The main negative contributors to growth in HFCE were expenditures on transport (-4.1% and contributing -0.6 of a percentage point), furnishings (-9.9% and contributing -0.6 of a percentage point), recreation (-70% and contributing -0.5 of a percentage point), food (-1.8% and contributing -0.3 of a percentage point) and restaurants (-6.1% and contributing -0.2 of a percentage point).

The agency said expenditure on health, the ‘other’ category and education contributed positively to growth in HFCE.

Spending on life insurance services was the main contributor to the increase in the ‘other’ category in the third quarter. Final consumption expenditure by general government increased by 0.1% in the third quarter.

Maluleke said an increase in compensation of employees was reported in the third quarter. “Total gross fixed capital formation was flat between the second and third quarters. The asset types that recorded positive growth were other assets (8.8% and contributing 1.0 percentage point), machinery and equipment4 (1.8% and contributing 0.7 of a percentage point) and residential buildings (1.5% and contributing 0.2 of a percentage point).”

He said there was a R915 million drawdown of inventories in the third quarter of 2021, saying there were large decreases in manufacturing and trades, which contributed to the inventory drawdowns experienced in the quarter.

During this period, net exports contributed positively to growth in expenditure.

“Exports of goods and services decreased by 5.9%, largely influenced by decreased trade in vehicles and other transport equipment; chemical products; machinery and equipment; pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, precious metals; and textiles and textile articles.

“Imports of goods and services decreased by 2.8%, driven largely by decreases in mineral products; base metals and articles of base metals; and prepared foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco,”  said Stats SA.

The African Union (AU) has condemned and called for the lifting of travel bans on Southern African countries, most notably South Africa, following the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The variant was detected and announced by South Africa’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in November and was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation soon thereafter – leading to countries across the globe closing their borders to travellers from South Africa and the region.

In a statement on Tuesday, the AU highlighted that the travel bans have a multi-layered impact on countries from the Southern African region.

“These travel and entry bans…lead to: adverse impact on the economy which will negatively affect the lives and livelihoods of populations concerned. [They also lead to] limited capacity to access essential medical supplies needed to respond to the ongoing upsurge of cases in South Africa [and] limited capacity for Southern African researchers and scientists to access the reagents needed to monitor spread of the Omicron variant and to investigate and characterize its impact on transmissibility, disease severity and possible evasion from vaccines.”

The Union further raised concern that a targeted approach is being imposed on South Africa and its neighbouring countries despite “widespread distribution of Omicron cases globally”.

The continental body added that the imposition of a travel ban and its impact could deter countries from reporting on any variant that may arise in the future.

“[P]enalizing Member States for ensuring timely and transparent data dissemination in accordance with international health regulations acts as a disincentive for information sharing in the future, potentially posing a threat to health security on the continent and globally”.

The union called for more emphasis to be put on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines on the continent.

“Equitable access to vaccines is key to immunize populations, control transmission of the virus and prevent the emergence of new variants. International efforts should accordingly focus on increasing vaccination coverage on the continent.”