E-filing falters

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 07 Aug 2007

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has delayed the launch of its upgraded income tax e-filing system by a week, after discovering a flaw in its mechanics.

The system briefly went "live" on Monday morning, as scheduled, but was then disabled to allow technicians to address the problem. At this stage, it is not known what the flaw is, or when it will be resolved.

SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan on Friday said the e-filing system would provide taxpayers a "secure, easy and friendly mechanism to work through". It is part of a modernisation drive at the tax collector worth R140 million.

SARS COO Edward Kieswetter added that e-filing would allow taxpayers to receive their assessments earlier, especially if submitted electronically, "and if due, receive refunds much sooner".

The setback may affect e-filing's uptake. "Technology changes culture. There is no doubt that there is a culture challenge here, both for individuals and for practitioners - and for companies as well," said Gordhan.

He added that SA was not breaking new ground in e-filing. A large number of other countries have already gone that way. Uptake has been somewhat patchy, with the response particularly poor in the Netherlands, "where particular cultural dynamics are at play". Gordhan said, by contrast, uptake has been particularly good in Latin America.

"On the whole, from what my colleagues are reporting, there has been a very positive response to this particular endeavour," Gordhan added. Whether the delay and the reported flaw will undermine this confidence also remains to be seen.

The delay stands in contrast to assurances given on Friday that the system would work as advertised - and would not be a repeat of the driving public's experience with the electronic National Information Traffic System (eNatis).

SARS communications GM Logan Wort said the system was an incremental development of its existing technology, rather than a completely new system, as was the case with eNatis.

Barry Hore, SARS' GM for strategy, modernisation and technology added that "Monday will be the proof that this works".