SARS COMMISSIONER EYES OFFSHORE ASSETS AND BANK ACCOUNTS
It should come as no surprise to taxpayers, that SARS gathers third party information from banks and financial institutions around the world, in the pursuit of revenue collection.
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Reporting financial institutions in other countries review their financial accounts annually, looking to identify reportable accounts held by South African tax residents. The relevant information extracted from the reportable account is compiled into a report and transmitted to SARS. The same duties apply to local financial institutions with reportable accounts held by foreign tax residents.
The SARS Commissioner announced on 5 May 2020, that SARS will continue to gather third party information from banks and financial institutions around the world, and which empowers it to identify and collect tax from so called ‘tax dodgers’. Any taxpayer that has yet to come clean and disclose his or her interests outside South Africa to SARS, risks the full might of the tax law which includes criminal prosecution for tax evasion.
If you are maintaining earnings or assets offshore, you can be certain that SARS has this information This is not the time to test SARS, who have once again demonstrated that it is under a strong, competent leadership, determined to increase revenue collection, by any means necessary.
Our multidisciplinary team of tax attorneys and chartered accountants have a proven track record at taking on SARS toe-to-toe successfully and have assisted many companies to become tax compliant and avoid personal liability. We guarantee legal professional privilege on your matter and follow a strict legal and compliant approach with solution-based thinking.
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