Pretoria, Friday 24 August 2018 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) wishes to announce that it is re-establishing the Large Business Unit and Illicit Economy Team.

The SARS Acting Commissioner, Mr Mark Kingon, is on record as having recently informed Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance that he will re-establish the Illicit Economy Team. It was also reported recently at the Commission of Inquiry into tax administration and governance at SARS that the Acting Commissioner for SARS has already begun a process to re-establish the Large Business Unit.

The decision, made by the Acting Commissioner and the SARS Executive Committee, was based on the pivotal role that these units play in enabling SARS to provide effective and efficient service to large corporate taxpayers, and in fighting illicit trade in the country.

The Chief Officer for Governance, International Relations, Strategy and Communications, Mr Hlengani Mathebula, has been tasked with leading the process to re-establish the Large Business Unit, while the re-establishment of the Illicit Economy Team will be led by the Chief Officer for Enforcement, Ms Mogola Mokola. The involvement of the two senior SARS officials is crucial to ensure that the new units are not merely a rehash of the previous units, but rather to ensure that the units will be responsive to the challenges currently being faced by SARS. 

SARS has already put together a multi-disciplinary team to work out the details and logistics of these highly focused and disciplined units. Among the team members are experienced officials who worked in the disbanded units and would make valuable contributions to the formation of the new units. The teams have already commenced with their work and it is envisaged that progress reports will be presented to the SARS Executive Committee by the end of August.