Harbour & Associates

I’m getting a lot of calls lately, because SARS is hitting more and more dormant companies with monthly administrative penalties for each annual tax return outstanding. Here’s a summary of my response – It is the company that becomes liable to SARS for the penalty The directors cannot be held liable The shareholders cannot be held liable The public officer cannot be held liable The only time that SARS can recover the penalties is if the company starts to trade If your company is not trading, I suggest that you ignore all correspondence from SARS relating to the penalties If…

Now that SARS has established their monthly penalties on outstanding Annual Tax Returns, they have moved on to VAT returns. They are still only imposing monthly penalties on what appear to be randomly selected dormant (and of course, active) companies. They are now moving on to impose administrative penalties on outstanding VAT returns. This is upping the ante hugely as VAT returns are due every one or two months and the minimum penalty is R250 per month per outstanding return. So if there are say, 6 returns outstanding, the penalty will be R1 500 each month until they are…

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.

administrative penalties

SARS’ Administrative Penalties have no teeth

SARS now imposing monthly penalties on late VAT returns

Must my dormant or shelf company submit tax returns?

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