Section 164 – requests for suspension of payment of a tax debt

Section 164 of the TAA governs requests for the suspension of payment of a tax debtTax liability represents the total amount of tax owed by an individual or business to a tax authority, whether local, national, or international. This obligation arises through various forms of income, profits, or transactions subject to taxation laws and regulations. Understanding tax liability is essential for compliance and efficient financial management for corporations and individuals. It influences how businesses structure... pending the outcome of an objection and appeal. Section 164(2) of the TAA, in particular states the following:

While it is clear that section 164 does not actually require that the notice of objection is lodged, it has recently come to our attention that the relevant SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... committees will not consider the section 164 request for suspension of payment of the tax debtTax liability represents the total amount of tax owed by an individual or business to a tax authority, whether local, national, or international. This obligation arises through various forms of income, profits, or transactions subject to taxation laws and regulations. Understanding tax liability is essential for compliance and efficient financial management for corporations and individuals. It influences how businesses structure... unless a copy of the taxpayer’s objection lodged with SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... is provided. It is very important that taxpayers do not without good reason refrain from settling debts due and payable to SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently..., however there is nevertheless an important purpose for the inclusion of the words “intends disputing” in the legislation.

It is submitted that by insisting on being provided with a copy of the objection, such action disregards the enabling legislation, is beyond the scope of the powers of SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... and is in effect prejudicial to a taxpayer. For example, a taxpayer may desperately require a valid Tax Clearance Certificate but is unable to obtain it as there is an outstanding tax debtTax liability represents the total amount of tax owed by an individual or business to a tax authority, whether local, national, or international. This obligation arises through various forms of income, profits, or transactions subject to taxation laws and regulations. Understanding tax liability is essential for compliance and efficient financial management for corporations and individuals. It influences how businesses structure... owing to SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... which has not been considered under section 164 of the TAA as SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... insists on a copy of the submitted objection. The difficulty which often arises, however, is that the objection cannot be submitted due to a number of factors beyond the control of the taxpayer, including delays by SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... in providing adequate reasons.

The prejudice to a taxpayer in my view farFunctional analysis is the cornerstone of transfer pricing and international tax compliance, ensuring that intercompany transactions adhere to the arm’s length principle. It evaluates the roles, contributions, and risk profiles of entities within a multinational enterprise (MNE) to determine how profits and costs should be allocated. This process ensures that related-party transactions reflect the pricing that independent enterprises would establish... outweighs the prejudice to SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently..., particularly as SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... has the ability to immediately revoke the section 164 request for suspension to the extent that an objection is not ultimately lodged and in that instance, SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... will receive interest retrospectively on the amount of tax allegedly due. The insistence by SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... of a copy of the submitted objection does not therefore correctly reflect what is required in the TAA.

Prescription – Section 99(2) of the TAA

Ordinarily, SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... cannot make an assessment three years after the date of assessment of an original assessment by SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... and in the case of self-assessment (ie: VAT and PAYE), the period of prescription is extended to five years. This period of limitation creates much needed certainty and stability and similar periods of prescription in respect of fiscal matters are recognised the world over.

Having said that, section 99(2) allows SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... to re-open an assessment beyond the three or five year limitation periods to the extent that the full amount of tax chargeable was not assessed, was as a result of fraud, misrepresentation and/ or non-disclosure of material facts on the part of the taxpayer. Recent experience indicates that SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... is not as concerned as it should be whether it can be shown that there has been fraud, misrepresentation or non-disclosure of material facts but is rather more concerned whether it has a strong case insofar as the underlying merits are concerned. In other words, there is a view within SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... that the primary consideration in raising an assessment beyond the three year period is the strength of the underlying merits of the case and the issue of prescription is merely secondary and in essence is just a box that needs to be ticked. This is a worrying trend, as fraud, misrepresentation and non-disclosure of material facts are very serious allegations to make against a taxpayer which must be very carefully considered before being alleged.

It is always difficult to predict certain issues which may arise when the legislation is being drafted and often practical issues only arise subsequent to the promulgation of tax Acts. Having said that, it is understandable that the TAA in its infancy is still creating much uncertainty of treatment and interpretation by SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently..., taxpayers and tax advisers alike. It is hoped that the issues raised above are merely isolated incidents and not evidence of a worrying trend that SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... is implementing policies that disregard the enabling legislation. Nevertheless, it is important that taxpayers fully understand their rights and obligations as contained in the TAA and where there is uncertainty, they should raise such issues through the formal SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... complaints mechanisms as well as consult professional advisers.