{"id":89265,"date":"2025-09-05T19:09:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa"},"modified":"2025-09-05T19:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:11:30","slug":"vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa","title":{"rendered":"VAT changes for businesses in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>SARS\u2019 proposed VAT Modernisation Project aims to combat tax evasion and improve compliance, making non-compliance both costly and risky for businesses and their directors.<\/p>\n

This is according to Jashwin Baijoo, associate director and head of strategic engagement & compliance at Tax Consulting SA.<\/p>\n

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) proposed Value-Added Tax (VAT) Modernisation Project is designed to combat challenges faced by traders, businesses, and SARS.<\/p>\n

This includes compliance inefficiencies, the risk of errors, and tax evasion. Phase 1 will entail inserting key definitions into the VAT Act, such as \u201ce-credit note\u201d, \u201ce-debit note\u201d and \u201cinteroperability framework\u201d.<\/p>\n

This VAT Modernisation Project clearly aligns with SARS\u2019 strategic objectives of making voluntary compliance easy, and non-compliance both hard and costly.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Baijoo said the streamlined process will also benefit taxpayers, reducing reliance on time-consuming paper-based invoicing and reconciliations.<\/p>\n

Although this particular project is still in the proposal stage, SARS has successfully implemented several other \u201cCompliance Projects\u201d and collection drives.<\/p>\n

SARS\u2019 compliance success in this age of automation can in part be attributed to its use of data-driven insights derived from both South African and international sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese system modernisations allow the revenue authority to detect any degree of non-compliance and hold the perpetrating taxpayer, and in some instances, tax aggressive advisor, accountable,\u201d Baijoo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlowing from automated processing, the data-driven insights inform SARS of all transactional records pertaining to specific taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using AI also means that the \u201cfine-tooth comb\u201d is no longer needed to extrapolate these records into strong legal cases for non-compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis collaborative approach enables SARS to gain access to a comprehensive dataset, facilitating more robust evaluations of taxpayers\u2019 financial activities,\u201d Baijoo said.<\/p>\n

With SARS\u2019 enhanced non-compliance detection capabilities and a sharp focus on both past and future non-compliance, Baijoo stressed that correct tax and legal guidance has never been more critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most prudent approach is to heed SARS\u2019 warning that non-compliance will be both hard and costly, and subscribe to the decentralised clearance model to be implemented under its newest modernisation project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Taxpayers face fines and criminal charges<\/b><\/p>\n

When it comes to VAT and its concomitant tax obligations, Baijoo said taxpayers are often under the false impression that if their company defaults with SARS, the directors and representatives have some protection.<\/p>\n

Section 180 of the Tax Administration Act (TAA) empowers SARS to hold third parties personally responsible for a company\u2019s tax debt\/compliance if:<\/p>\n

The person \u201ccontrols or is regularly involved in the management of the overall financial affairs of a taxpayer\u201d<\/p>\n

SARS determines that the person acted negligently or fraudulently concerning the taxpayer\u2019s tax debt<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere a tax obligation exists, this would include liability for capital sums due, as well as related penalties and interest,\u201d Baijoo explained. \u201cHolding an official financial title within the company is not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMerely being involved in financial decisions can make an individual a target. Directors, shareholders, financial officers, and even informal advisors can be held liable if their actions (or inaction) contribute to tax non-compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baijoo also warned that SARS\u2019s collection arsenal is not limited to section 180. For example, sections 153 to 155 of the TAA impose personal liability on a \u201crepresentative taxpayer\u201d.<\/p>\n

This includes public officers and any person responsible for managing a company\u2019s tax affairs. They may be held personally accountable if the company\u2019s actions are construed as fraudulent or \u201ctax evasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat of personal liability extends beyond financial penalties. SARS has the power to initiate criminal proceedings against individuals controlling non-compliant companies,\u201d Baijoo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that simply paying a fine may not be enough; offenders could face criminal charges and even imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baijoo said that for compliant VAT vendors, the modernisation project could be the tool needed to optimise administrative operations, reduce man-hours, and streamline refund processing.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. SARS\u2019 proposed VAT Modernisation Project aims to combat tax evasion and improve compliance, making non-compliance both costly and risky for businesses and their directors. This is according to Jashwin Baijoo, associate director and head of strategic engagement & compliance at Tax Consulting SA. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) proposed Value-Added Tax […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nVAT changes for businesses in South Africa - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SARS\u2019 proposed VAT Modernisation Project aims to combat tax evasion and improve compliance, making non-compliance both c ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VAT changes for businesses in South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SARS\u2019 proposed VAT Modernisation Project aims to combat tax evasion and improve compliance, making non-compliance both c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T19:09:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T19:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757086863.169744.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"VAT changes for businesses in South Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-05T19:09:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-05T19:11:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757086863.169744.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/vat-changes-for-businesses-in-south-africa\",\"name\":\"VAT changes for businesses in South Africa - 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