Advocating for Tax Practitioners: They Need a Supportive Tax System
Tax practitioners help us all understand taxes – they make things easier for everyone. But to do their best work, they need more support from SARS. We think it's time to talk about how to make this happen.
Let’s ask the Tax Ombudsman to use its powers to review how to improve the support SARS provides to Tax Practitioners.
Tax practitioners are crucial for a smooth tax system. They help us all with their expertise. It's important they get the support they need so they can keep helping everyone effectively.
RCBs and the Tax Ombud
On March 25, 2024, Recognised Controlling Bodies (RCB Forum) held their quarterly meeting of the year with the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO).
The collaboration aims to align recommendations made by the RCB Forum and the OTO to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for quicker and more effective service improvements.
At this meeting, they also tackled the Tax Ombudsman’s role in resolving taxpayer issues and systemic problems within the tax system. Key topics included challenges faced by tax practitioners in dealing with SARS, such as access difficulties, audit feedback complexities, and the pressing need for SARS to treat tax practitioners as essential allies.
The Mandate of the Tax Ombud
The OTO, as its mandate outlines in s16 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011, plays a critical role in upholding the principles of public administration embedded in the Constitution. These principles include maintaining high standards of professional ethics, efficient and effective resource use, and ensuring services are provided impartially, fairly, and equitably. Specifically, the OTO is tasked with reviewing and resolving complaints from taxpayers concerning service, procedural, or administrative issues arising from the application of the Tax Act by the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Additionally, the OTO is empowered to review, with the Minister's approval, any systemic or emerging issues related to service or the application of the Tax Act's provisions. These may include issues that affect registered controlling bodies (RCBs) and tax practitioners, highlighting the Ombud's role in proposing resolutions to these challenges, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability within tax administration processes. The collaboration between the OTO and the RCB Forum
Challenges faced by Tax Practitioners
The bulk of the discussions between the RCBs and the OTO revolved around the challenges tax professionals face in dealing with SARS, with a specific emphasis on accessing services and the nuances of these interactions. Key issues included:
Access Issues and System Constraints
The meeting revisited ongoing communication challenges tax practitioners face with SARS, specifically issues with the booking system, extended wait times, and a call for more comprehensive online booking features. Tax professionals expressed concerns over the limitation that only allows discussing one client issue per appointment, regardless of available time for additional queries. This limitation prevents the system from handling discussions on multiple clients in a single session, leading to inefficiencies. Additional challenges were highlighted in booking appointments for trusts or companies.
There was a noted absence of a collaborative relationship between tax practitioners (TPs) and SARS, particularly due to difficulties with the contact center. This long-standing problem has been raised with SARS before, underscoring the need for higher-level intervention to improve these interactions.
Assessments lacking detailed grounds
Attendees raised issues regarding the insufficient details provided on items disallowed in SARS audits. This often places a significant burden on taxpayers to identify items that were disallowed i.e. for input VAT transactions.
There was agreement among the participants that aligning audit feedback more closely with the requirements of the accounting standards would make this process simpler and lessen the load on taxpayers.
Progress and Problems with Tax Clearances and Disputes
Some progress was acknowledged, such as improvements in communication through system-generated letters. However, challenges remain in providing the necessary information for verifications, leading to delays in processing refunds and verifications.
Delays in Refunds
The meeting addressed concerns over delayed refunds, noting the reponse from SARS that audits and investigations amongst other things might contribute to these delays. The request that tax practitioners are informed regarding the status of refunds and verifications was emphasieed.
Linking Payment Suspension with Tax Compliance
A request was made for SARS to better integrate payment suspension with tax compliance status requests, noting discrepancies with the dispute rules timelines.
The Issue of De-registering Tax Practitioners
Significant concern was raised over the practice of de-registering tax practitioners without prior notice or consultation with RCBs, which can leave practitioners unable to operate for extended periods. Early engagement with RCBs was suggested as a potential solution to ensure compliance and avoid deregistration.
While the meeting shared an underlying commitment to overcome the operational challenges it noted the crucial requirement of SARS recognising tax practitioners as essential allies in fostering compliance, ensuring transparency, and facilitating efficient tax administration.
We wrote a hypothetical letter suggesting how the Tax Ombudsman could help make things better between SARS and tax practitioners.We wrote a hypothetical letter suggesting how the Tax Ombudsman could help make things better between SARS and tax practitioners.
Suggested letter to the Minister of Finance
The Chartered Institute for Business Accountants NPC is an RCB and recommends that the following suggested letter is considered by the OTO to submit to the Minister of Finance from recommending to a review of the support provided by SARS to tax practitioners.
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