Pretoria, Friday, 22 June 2018 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is reminding Value-Added Tax (VAT) vendors to submit their outstanding returns to avoid administrative penalties and/or criminal prosecution.

In accordance with the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (TAA), and specifically Section 234 (d), it is a criminal offence not to submit a tax return for any of the tax types a taxpayer is registered for. The tax types are:

• Personal Income Tax (PIT)
• Corporate Income Tax (CIT)
• Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
• Value-Added Tax (VAT)

Failure to submit the returns within the relevant period could result in administrative penalties being imposed per outstanding return. It could also result in criminal prosecution which could lead to a fine or imprisonment.

All VAT vendors with outstanding returns, including those who failed to submit a due return for the first time, or did not submit a VAT201 return in time for the April/May 2018 VAT period, will receive SMS or eMail-reminders from SARS from today to submit their outstanding returns.

It is important to note that should any return result in a tax debt, the debt must be paid before the relevant due date to avoid any interest for late payment and legal action. SARS will ensure that refunds are paid, unless there is a legal reason to withhold a refund.

All vendors are reminded to submit accurate declarations as SARS may conduct an audit.

For further clarity, taxpayers can call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277.