THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) has urged taxpayers to remain compliant and make use of its online services as the country battles an ailing economy compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If there was ever a time where delivering on our mandate matters, it is now. During this time, it remains extremely important for all taxpayers to remain compliant,” said SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter.

This, Kieswetter said means taxpayers must register when they are legally required to; submit tax and customs declarations, returns, and relevant submissions when it is required and make the necessary payments when they become due, unless they have entered into a permissible payment arrangement with SARS.

The Commissioner was speaking at a briefing where he outlined the impact of COVID-19 on revenue collection service’s on Tuesday.

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In light of the pandemic, government needs tax revenue to provide much needed relief to businesses and individuals, and especially to keep an army of community health workers, and other medical and frontline workers employed.

Many businesses and individuals are desperately in need of refunds that are payable – which requires SARS to perform the necessary verification and assurance work and to manage the risks related to refunds.

“Our customs officials have had to ensure that the essential and legitimate PPE, medical equipment and supplies as well as other permitted cargo can be lawfully moved through our ports of entry.

“We also had to prepare our core administration systems to administer all the tax relief measures announced by government,” said Kieswetter.

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