The Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) today, 1 October 2024, launches its annual awareness campaign themed “Be A Smart Taxpayer”. The campaign aims to empower taxpayers to be smart, promote taxpayer rights and embrace tax compliance. It also serves to maximise awareness about the OTO brand and encourage taxpayers to utilise the free services […]
The Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) confirms that it has sought and obtained approval from the Minister of Finance to conduct a review of possible systemic and emerging issues related to alleged SARS’s service failures in assisting taxpayers with eFiling profile hijacking timeously in terms of section 16(1)(b) of the Tax Administration Act 28 […]
The South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) action of incorrectly invalidating objections is one of the issues raised and addressed in the Tax Ombud’s Systemic Investigation Report (2020), which concluded that there was a 31% error rate where objections were incorrectly invalidated for various reasons. The case below illustrates another instance of SARS incorrectly invalidating an objection.
Deregistering as a VAT vendor can be challenging, as the case below illustrates, where the South African Revenue Service (SARS) delayed deregistering a taxpayer’s VAT profile for over a year.
Having stood the test of time as a capable organisation with a proven track record in helping to resolve taxpayers’ complaints against the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Established on 1 October 2013, the OTO has been credited with improving the country’s tax […]
The Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) does not often receive cases involving Turnover Tax Return (TT03) complaints against the South African Revenue Service (SARS) but ensures that when it does, such matters are efficiently dealt with. The case below, which helped secure a tax refund of over R24 000, illustrates the OTO’s commitment to […]
Ten years has a special ring to it, and for the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO), it represents commitment and achievement. We are excited to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the OTO, which by now has a substantial track record in serving as a free, fair recourse mechanism for South Africa’s taxpayers.
Welcome to our second quarter issue of Fair Play! We are excited about this issue because the Office of the Tax Ombud’s educational campaign continues to provide insights on promoting Taxpayers’ rights during the SARS’s Tax Season. The OTO’s #TaxpayersRightsMatter campaign aims to educate taxpayers about their rights, what they mean, and when they should […]