Sipho Mabena Sars new unit has 1,000 highly skilled members and it is looking for more to ensure millionaires pay their fair share. Picture: iStock The SA Revenue Service (Sars) has refused to divulge the composition, size and expertise of its new High Wealth Individual Taxpayer Segment (HWI) unit dedicated to focus on the rich, as this will expose its capacity. Also read: Sars special unit for rich tax-dodgers is long overdue But spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko said the unit, which has started issuing “welcome” letters to its target group, was made up of high calibre people with skills ranging from special investigations, data capturing, auditing and analysis. He said the unit would benefit from Sars’ massive recruitment drive, which yielded 88,000 applications, including 7,946 applications.
SARS may be your follower on social media
(Partner Content) It has been widely reported that SARS has committed to probing the tax affairs, and information disclosed by high-net-worth individuals (“HNWI”) on their tax returns, in order to determine their compliance with the respective tax legislation, with the establishment of the High Wealth Individual Taxpayer Segment (HWI).
The gravitas of this commitment by SARS should not be taken lightly by HNWI, particularly if your lifestyle on social media is not reconcilable with your declared tax information which may result in a one-way ticket to jail in light of the recent amendments to Section 234 of the Tax Administration Act No.: 28 of 2011 (“the TAA”).
SARS will follow you on Facebook and Twitter to see what you are really spending: analyst
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The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has committed to probing the tax affairs, and information disclosed by high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) on tax returns, to ensure that they are actually complying with tax laws.
The gravitas of this commitment by SARS should not be taken lightly, said Jean-Louis Nel, legal manager at Tax Consulting SA, particularly if your lifestyle on social media is not reconcilable with your declared tax information.
This could result in a one-way ticket to jail in light of the recent amendments to Section 234 of the Tax Administration Act, he said.
Sipho Mabena Tax attorney at Tax Consulting SA Jean-Louis Nel said in 2017 when Sars started investigating these high net wealth individuals, the taxpayer was able to recover an additional R184-million. Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter. Picture: Moneyweb With about 38 400 individuals with a net asset value of over one million US dollars (about R14.7-million) as well as their complex tax structure, experts believe the establishment of a dedicated unit within SA Revenue Services (Sars) for this class of taxpayer was long overdue. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced the establishment of such a unit on Wednesday, during his budget speech. “For Sars to continue to provide a customised and seamless service to various categories of taxpayers, we are establishing a separate unit to focus on individual taxpayers with wealth and complex financial