REVISED SARS SERVICE CHARTER

Revised SARS Service Charter

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) recently issued a revised 2022 Service Charter, containing important rights and obligations of taxpayers’, as well as service level standards of SARS.

Taxpayer rights and obligations listed by SARS includes:

You have a RIGHT to:	You have an OBLIGATION to:
Clarity and certainty (to be informed) of obligations to SARS	Timeously engage, register and comply with legal obligations
Excellent service, irrespective of the method of engagement with SARS	Co-operate in full and provide accurate, truthful information through efficient and timeous engagement via appropriate channels
Be heard, make a complaint and lodge disputes that are resolved timeously	Provide all supporting documentation and information within the required timeframes, as requested
Be treated without fear, favour, or prejudice by SARS in a confidential manner, within the relevant legislative framework	Act honestly and have respect for the tax system Assist in deterring non-compliance by reporting tax fraud and non-compliance with tax legislation
Be represented by a professional	Accept personal responsibility and accountability for all your tax affairs
Be respected by all SARS officials	Respect the work done by all SARS officials

SARS also gives certain service level standards or undertakings in its revised Service Charter.  This includes:

1. Engagement with taxpayers – Through digital channels SARS will:

• Ensure eFiling and MobiApp digital platforms availability / uptime is 99.9 % of
  planned capacity due to scheduled maintenance.
• Provide Lwazi (ChatBot), amongst other services, for requesting a tax number,
  statement of account, audit and refund status.
• Offer SMS functionality, amongst other services, for appointments, enquiry of
  tax reference number, enquiry of returns submission, account balance, tax
  clearance status and refunds.
• Offer an Online Query System for uploading supporting documents to be
  referenced with the relevant case number. Through our customer interactive
  channels, we will:
• Offer eBooking appointments for branch visits and virtual engagements, either
  through the SARS website and/or SMS.
• Confirm 8 out of 10 SMS appointments within 3 business days.
• Offer 90% first contact resolution at our Contact Centre.
• Attend to 9 out of 10 appointments at branches, MTUs and external points of
  service within 30 minutes of waiting time. Visits to these service points without
  an appointment is not covered by this commitment.
• Resolve 8 out of 10 communications through a dedicated email channel within
  21 business days of receipt of the complete information. Should this not be
  possible, SARS will communicate the reasons for the delay.

2) Registration – Provided all registration requirements are met, SARS will process and finalise:

• Electronic registration application (PIT, CIT, VAT, and PAYE) immediately on
  receipt of complete information and where no validation is required. Should this not be possible, SARS will communicate the reasons for the delay to the taxpayer.
• 8 out of 10 applications that follows manual processes, or require due diligence,
  validation and/or inspection within 21 business days, pertaining to any tax type.
  Should this not be possible, SARS will communicate the reasons for the delay to
  the taxpayer.
• 8 out of 10 Customs registration applications within 5 business days, on receipt
  of complete information, and where no inspection or bond is required. Should
  this not be possible, SARS will communicate the reasons for the delay to the
  taxpayer.
• 8 out of 10 Customs and Excise licencing applications within 21 business days
  (excluding trader processing time) of submission of complete information, where an inspection and/or bond is required. Should this not be possible,
  SARS will communicate the reasons for the delay to the taxpayer.

3) Returns – SARS will:

• Where required, communicate with you via SMS or email to remind you of
  submission deadlines. </li >
• Provide a taxpayer with an assessment outcome in under 5 seconds.

If you have any enquiries, please contact Petri Westraadt at pwestraadt@fhbc.co.za