SARS tax season nearing its end

With the closing of the tax season today (Friday) for provisional and non-provisional taxpayers who hand in their returns at the Sars offices, many people were filled with trepidation about their visit to the Sars office in the run-up to the cut-off date because of the extremely long queues, standing for hours in wind and sun, red tape, lack of communication and ill-equipped staff not being able to assist with information sometimes.
Polokwane Observer has heard and read on social media complaints about the staff at the Polokwane office being slow, and not being very friendly or helpful towards clients visiting their offices for assistance. “Who has got the time nowadays to wait for hours to be assisted? I just cannot afford to be away from work for hours on end,” one woman complained about two weeks ago after an hours-long wait at the offices. “There I was waiting outside in the sun with around twenty-five other people and after nearly an hour nobody has even asked why I was there – I could maybe have been assisted sooner at another queue or by someone else for all I know. There just is nobody around whom one could ask.”
Complaints posted on social media includes one posted by a woman who had to wait in the queue for four hours on Tuesday, only to be confronted by a staff member she described as “rude and unfriendly”. “In the time I have been waiting in the queue only five people were assisted. I do not know if there isn’t sufficient staff members available or if the system is slow or they just take so long to assist one person, but it was definitely not an enjoyable experience.”
Another issue affecting customers is that they have to wait, sometimes for hours, in the wind and weather, as there is not sufficient space to sit and wait inside the building. Visitors with disabilities are catered for at the branch though, according to its web page.
The web page can be accessed on a mobile browser and one can even get an indication on how many people there are in the queue at times. On Wednesday at around 11:00 the estimate was that there were 177 people in the queue and the expected waiting time was 24 minutes. An hour later the indication was that there are around 200 people, with an expected waiting time of 26 minutes, which was not likely, according to the movement observed.
The best times to queue are supplied on the site, as the busiest time apparently is from 08:00 to 11:00 and from 15:00 to 16:00.
On Tuesday at 06:00, when Polokwane Observer went to photograph the scene, around thirty people were already queuing at the offices for assistance when the offices open at 08:00. A SARS staff member said at 11:00 the queue would be much longer.
The office, as all other SARS offices, offers extended office hours and will be open today and tomorrow from 08:00 to 19:00 to assist with last-minute queries, as it has been since last Wednesday. Polokwane however was not listed under the SARS branches that were open during the last two Saturdays until 13:00.
SARS Spokesperson Sandile Memela commented that SARS has not received any official complaints of staff being unfriendly or unhelpful.
“In the event of such complaints, taxpayers and clients are encouraged to request to see the Branch Manager and raise such issues.”
He said SARS has recently refurbished the Polokwane branch office space to increase the seating capacity, which was increased from 60 to 152 in the main servicing hall. “A further 120 people can be accommodated in overflow areas within the branch,” he said. “To ensure that delays are at a minimum additional staff have been deployed in the branch. SARS is doing its best to create the appropriate environment for taxpayers.”
Memela said taxpayers are immediately accommodated inside the branch as soon as space becomes available. “Public toilets are always available in the building on request and no taxpayer or client has been turned away.”

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: Around 30 people standing in the queue already at the SARS offices Tuesday morning at 06:00.