I was a business owner in the IT industry. I trusted my accountant who confirmed that all submissions to SARS was made and payments were upped. When I asked them questions, they confirmed that everything was up to date. After 4 years I discovered that none of the PAYE, Tax or VAT submissions was made or paid to SARS. I moved to a new accountant immediately and after re-capturing all transactions and re-do all the accounting work of 4 years, I found out that I had R2,7 mil debt with SARS. This included penalties.
The expenses I had on my farm. Due to COVID and lockdown in March 2020 various businesses were closed and their books were closed off later than normal. This lead to a backlog in understanding outstanding expenses to our suppliers for my farm. I fell behind with my accounts and books. In Dec 2020 I received a note from SARS that I owed R687,000 and I had penalties of R100,000 due to late submission of my tax. I could not pay this. My expenses was in the previous book year and my income for the following year was low. My accountant said I would have to pay SARS the full amount. My accountant said there was no negotiating with SARS.
I am a business owner in the electrical engineering space. We handle electrical installations, repairs, maintenance and auditing. My biggest concern before I worked with Tax Debt Compliance was that my compliance with SARS and bookkeeping was in tatters. I didn’t have a tax clearance certificate to trade and I could not do business. I took my eye off the ball. I didn’t check the person who did my books. I didn’t check that my payments to SARS was up to date. When I found out about my problem with SARS I was R300 K in arrears on payments.