FOR the second year in a row, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has broken the Trillion Rand mark in revenue collection. SARS has collected in gross terms R1.367 trillion-making the preliminary outcome for the 2016/17 financial year R1.144 trillion.

“As of midnight on 31 March 2017 SARS had collected R1.144 trillion in line with the revised estimate as announced by the former Minister of Finance in the February 2017 Budget speech,” said SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane.

Also present at the briefing, new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said South Africans should pat themselves on the back as a nation – following the announcement of revenue collection.

For the tax season that closed in 2016, SARS received 5.74 million returns by the close of tax season for non-provisional taxpayers. Over the tax season SARS branch offices assisted over 5.1 million tax payers, while the Contact Centre handled over 3.6 million calls. In addition, a total 92.4 per cent of tax returns were assessed within a period of three seconds.

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