Government Gazette Number 35090, issued on 29 February 2012, has fundamentally changed the access that SARS has to every person’s bank account information. For many years tax advisors have been plagued by the question from clients not wanting to heed sound tax advice by saying “yes, I hear you, but how will SARS know?”. The answer is now simple, the bank, including Postbank and companies listed on the JSE are required to send detailed returns on a 6 monthly basis to SARS.
These returns must disclose for all persons identity particulars and tax reference numbers, the closing balances of the accounts at the end of the relevant 6 month period, any interest amounts received or accrued by the persons from the “reporting institutions” and interestingly, monthly totals of all debits and credits to the accounts.
Contact [email protected] who is a registered tax practitioner, if you have any tax concerns.