CAPE TOWN: The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued a statement encouraging non-tax compliant South African residents to approach the agency through its permanent Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) by August 12, 2015.
The main aim of South Africa’s VDP is to encourage taxpayers to come forward on a voluntary basis to regularize their tax affairs and avoid the imposition of penalties. The program is only available to taxpayers who are unaware of a pending audit or investigation, or of an audit or investigation that has commenced but has not yet been concluded by SARS.
However, SARS has indicated that it has now completed the initial phase of matching with its taxpayer database the information on foreign bank accounts held by South African residents obtained through international exchange of information procedures. It confirmed that this matching shows that some account holders may have used their accounts to evade South African tax liabilities.
Account holders who want to make use of the VDP program have been encouraged to submit their applications to the agency’s VDP unit on or before August 12, 2015.
