{"id":1238,"date":"2023-04-22T07:58:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T07:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:46:26","slug":"sars-is-finding-a-new-way-to-get-info-on-taxpayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/2023\/04\/22\/sars-is-finding-a-new-way-to-get-info-on-taxpayers\/","title":{"rendered":"SARS is finding a new way to get info on taxpayers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Complex-solar.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Complex-solar.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Complex-solar-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Complex-solar-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Complex-solar-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A draft public notice from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) indicates that the taxman wants to use solar installers to gain additional information on taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>According to tax experts from Tax Consulting SA, SARS is proposing that solar installers report taxpayer information directly to the authority.<\/p>\n<p>The group said this is an \u201cinnovative approach\u201d by the revenue service to tackling non-compliance at the same time as enabling the newly proposed tax credits for solar panels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSARS will know exactly who had the money to install solar, and the tax refund claim promises to be seamless for compliant taxpayers,\u201d said the tax firm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis appears very much part of the SARS drive to ensure compliance and embrace technology for taxpayer data collection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the new announcement from SARS considers imposing a requirement on the solar installer to report taxpayer and solar installation information where the solar installation is affected at a domestic residence.<\/p>\n<p>It is further proposed that the notice will be backdated to 1 March 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould this be implemented, taxpayers who have installed solar panels at their domestic residences since 1 March can expect to be reapproached by their solar installers to collect the information which they are required to submit to SARS,\u201d said Tax Consulting SA.<\/p>\n<p>The latest draft public notice was issued in the tax authority\u2019s latest information gathering laws \u2013 requiring select third parties to submit returns containing specific information.<\/p>\n<p>Tax Consulting SA said that under the current regime, organisations such as banks, financial institutions, listed companies, and medical schemes are required to submit third-party returns to SARS, detailing relevant taxpayer information, transactions, and amounts involved.<\/p>\n<p>Solar installers seem to be the next institution that will be added to this list, said the tax firm.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the draft public notice, the person who issues a solar installation certificate of compliance for the installation of either new or unused solar panels at a domestic residence will have the responsibility to disclose specified information.<\/p>\n<p>The reporting obligation is aimed at the certificate of compliance issued on completion of a new solar installation.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the mandatory information includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Income tax reference number or, if no income tax reference number is available, the identity number of the person on whose behalf the installation was done<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The physical address of the installation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost of the solar panels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The date on which they were first brought into use<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The draft public notice was issued under the Tax Administration Act, that among other things, empowers SARS to gather third-party information and impose penalties on those who do not comply.<\/p>\n<p>Section 234(2)(d) of the Act provides that any person who wilfully or negligently fails to submit a return to SARS when required to do so commits a criminal offence. As a sanction for a such criminal offence, a fine or imprisonment for up to two years may be imposed, said Tax Consulting SA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A draft public notice from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) indicates that the taxman wants to use solar installers to gain additional information on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innov8ions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}