Yes! And hurry! On 29 November 2019, SARS changed the game for dormant and shelf companies.

After the flurry of uncertaintly, we are now fairly sure of SARS’ intentions, although they have only been applied erratically.

29 November 2018 SARS issues a statement to the effect that they will be imposing administrative penalties on all companies, with outstanding tax returns, including those that have not traded.

26 January 2019 SARS posts final demands on some companies (but not others) efiling profiles to submit their outstanding returns up to 2017, giving 21 business days to do so.

28 February 2019 SARS imposes R250 recurring monthly penalty for each outstanding return up to 2017 on some companies but not others.

20 March 2019 SARS sends hundreds of emails containing a “friendly reminder” that the current tax return (2018) has not been submitted.

31 March/1 April 2019 SARS posts final demands on some companies (but not others) efiling profiles to submit their outstanding 2018 returns, giving 21 business days to do so.

4 April 2019 SARS sends hundreds of emails advising that a recurring penalty has been imposed on the recipient company, but fails to include the company name or tax number.

17 April 2019 SARS sends emails with name and tax number confirming that administrative penalties (R250 per month per return up to 2017) have been applied.

What will happen next?

The recurring penalties will continue each month until the relevant returns are filed.

Additional recurring penalties will be imposed at R250 per month for the 2018 returns.

We have yet to see how SARS plans to collect the penalties from companies that are dormant.

We are offering to submit all overdue nil returns for a very low fee and we can help with the catch up if the company traded during any particular tax year.