SARS takes more than R1.5 trillion for 2021/22 financial year

For the financial year 2021/22, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) collected little over R1.5 trillion in taxes and charges. In comparison to the previous financial year’s projections, this resulted in an increase of R314 billion in revenue.

Personal income tax, VAT, business tax, and customs taxes were the main sources of revenue.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter told a media briefing in Pretoria that the revenue collector’s administrative changes have greatly boosted revenue collection.

SARS briefing:

“Significant contributors in this regard Personal Income Tax (PIT) was net up by R6.3 billion or 13% to R555.8 billion (35.5%), Company Income Tax (CIT), net up by R119 billion or 58% to contributed R323.6 billion, Value-Added Tax (VAT) up by R59 billion or 18% to R390.7 billion,” says Kieswetter.

Administrative improvements

Kieswetter indicated in early March that they needed to make a number of administrative changes to maximize income collections for the 2022 budget.

He said that those tactics, together with a stronger commodity price cycle, enabled SARS collect an additional R187 billion in income.

Kieswetter was speaking at a Deloitte South Africa post-budget webinar.

“To date this year, we’ve had to work through and resolve 2,4 million cases of debt, not all of which were friendly; we’ve had to appoint a few sheriffs; we’ve had to issue five and a half civil judgments; we’ve issued just over 300,000 to third-party collection agencies; we’ve issued 24 000 letters of demand; those are administrative actions that, if not taken, would result in revenue remaining outside the fiscus.” “Those of you who know, there’s an inverse relationship between the age of debt and its collectability,” Kieswetter explained.