Minutes: SARS Stakeholders Meeting Western Cape 4 September 2013
26 September 2013
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Posted by: Author: SAIT Technical
Author: SAIT Technical 1. Opening, welcoming and introduction Done
by Willie Viljoen and Annette van Rooyen 2. Approval of previous meeting minutes Practitioners have an issue with going to a SARS
office with a specific document obtained on the SARS website, only finding when
they get to the SARS office that the document is not valid anymore.
Practitioners feel that their time is being wasted and would like SARS to send
out "notices” via email to practitioners of any changes to any documents on the
website. SARS will discuss it at the national meeting. Correction to previous minutes:
PCC mailbox should only be used for queries
concerning service (request for service) and you will receive a case number. It
is not intended for advice or general issues. The minutes
were adopted by all stakeholders present. 3. Specific items raised by practitioners Timeout
period of efiling – 5 mins (used to be 20 minutes) SARS
response: It is a decision taken by SARS technical. When you have a login issue
immediately when you log in, the problem is the browser. Mozilla Firefox and
Explorer is preferred, users of Google chrome are experiencing a lot of
problems. SARS indicated that the reason for the timeout period being decreased
is security risk. The frustration
that practitioners have is that the system kicks you out after 5 minutes while
you are working on it. It is accepted that the system kicks you out if there is
no activity, but not while you are working on it. SARS
has responded by saying that the issue has been escalated to a national level
and they will consider a compromise of 10 or 15 minutes. Clarification
of bank details: Issue is when the bank details have not changed but the last 3
digits of the ID has, then the bank has to be verified. SARS response SARS’s
3rd party verification with banks have become more complex. SARS’s
advice will be that as you deal with your client and you pick up that there is
a problem with your client’s ID number then you can represent your client and
make the change. But if you wait for the automated bank verification to pick it
up it is too late. SARS
appointments
There
has been a significant improvement in the turnaround time to set up an
appointment at Cape Town Branch office. However, the decision making is
erratic, in that in one instance an appointment was made for 2 days hence, and
in another instance immediately afterwards, the appointment was made for 5
weeks hence. After sending through the complaint the matter was addressed
immediately with an appointment set for the next day. SARS
response: We are usually booked for 1 month in advance. If it is a VAT
appointment the turnaround time is usually 48 hours. The reason the
practitioner maybe got an appointment so quickly was because of a cancellation.
We can’t attend to all the tax practitioners in the Western Cape. That is also
why we have requested tax practitioners to go to the Cape Town office or an
office which is closest to their business. SARS wants to create a dedicated
SARS practitioners office in the greater Cape Town area, but SARS does not have
the funds currently to do that. Request
for tenders has been published in the newspaper for a new Mitchells Plain
office. SARS requests that practitioners have to start using the electronic
mediums more and a lot of times meetings scheduled by practitioners have been
scheduled for acknowledgements. There must be a lot of miss-trust in the other
channels. SARS will also be a lot more efficient if these resources be used for
real problems that practitioners must go into a SARS office for. Practitioners
are also encouraged to apply for a TCC online rather than manually. The real
time TCC system is in the process and will definitely relieve the appointment
system of clogging. Why is
SARS servicing Tax Practitioners when not registered according to TAA? SARS is
still in transition phase and compromising, but it will not last and people not
registered will sooner than later not be serviced by SARS anymore. There is a
verification process with the professional bodies which is also taking a long
time. Exams have to be written and experience referenced. Practitioners should
verify their details, if not SARS will not assist them. How
will a practitioner know if he verified his details correctly? SARS responds
that immediately after you verified your details you would have got a pop up
notification on the screen which showed that your details have been verified
and with which controlling body you are registered. SARS
Call Centre The
call centre appears to be inflexible at times when the operator refuses to
divulge routine information. This is especially the case where an address has
been changed yet the system has not updated. There
is an instance where a taxpayer requested a Tax Clearance for Emigration
purposes and all the necessary documentation was handed in at SARS and an
acknowledgement was received. When a follow up is made with Call Centre as to
the Status of the Tax Clearance, the operator as well as a supervisor refuse to
provide any information as the address on the SARS system does not match with
the information that the practitioner has, even though this update has been
given to SARS with the application. The
Call Centre states that the Practitioner must call in at a local SARS office. This
appears to be a very labour intensive and unproductive process. SARS
response: SARS acknowledges that there was a delay in the uploading of
information. SARS will investigate why the info was not uploaded immediately.
SARS requested the specific case number and details. Submission
of returns Cannot submit a return if the physical/postal
addresses are the same for the taxpayer and the tax practitioner (in case of
family members & expats SARS response: It has been escalated but a
response has not yet been received. Once a response is received we will let
practitioners know. Communication
with tax practitioners and clients Inconsistency
of communication with TP and clients – sometimes by email, other times by mail
and then by email – receive a variety of communications for same kind of
queries – can we standardize communication. SARS
response: SARS will try to rectify and standardize. Notice of
Appeal declared invalid Inconsistent application of objections and notice of appeal (14/6) a. 03/07 received a notification of invalid
Objection - appeal then submitted against this objection b. 9/07 received a notification of invalid
appeal because there was not an underlying objection - Now what? c. Now the TAA time has passed
and SARS not willing to relook at the case. SARS response: When a NOO is invalid this means another NOO should
be done. The system will see the NOO as never submitted.When the NOO is partially allowed or
disallowed this means you can take the next step which is to submit a NOA.If you have followed the channels above and the
system still don’t allow them to do a NOO or NOA, they should write a letter to
legal to object manuallyTax practitioner must remember that we do not
follow the NOO process for all cases. For instance to rectify medical expenses
a request for correction (RFC) can be used instead of a NOO.When an audit was done and the expenses
was disallowed, then the NOO process can be followed. Willie thanked everyone who attended the meeting
and concluded the meeting.
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