Taxpayers test SARS IT

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 01 Nov 2007

An unnecessary "last minute rush" by thousands of taxpayers attempting to beat yesterday's deadline for the submission of paper income tax returns severely tested the SA Revenue Services' e-filing system, says spokesman Logan Wort.

He says the pressure was compounded by companies electronically submitting their monthly VAT returns.

"Some taxpayers formed the mistaken idea that they had to register online before the end of yesterday to e-file their tax returns before the 31 January deadline for electronic tax returns," Wort says.

"This caused a huge rush and a massive slowdown in the system. We put out a statement on Tuesday telling people that they did not have to register by yesterday provided they e-filed before the January deadline, but they seem not to have gotten the message."

Wort says 100 000 people registered online between Monday and yesterday. About 200 000 taxpayers have filed tax returns since August when e-filing was launched and about 800 000 people are now registered for online tax returns.

"The numbers have been overwhelming and significantly drove down the speed and response time of the system, causing some people to be timed-out," Wort says.

"The experience was a good one; it gave us some kind of indication as to what to expect for the real deadline. We would have wanted it better but we are comfortable."

Looking towards January, Wort says SARS expects a last minute rush such as that experienced this week. "We are preparing as best as humanly possible," he says. Other than "tweaking" the system, SARS will also campaign taxpayers to submit their returns early to avoid being caught in that last minute rush.

"There will be massive congestion in January and we will urge people to stagger their tax submissions."

Electronic progress

E-filing is part of a R140 million modernisation drive at the tax collector.

SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan earlier this year said the e-filing system would provide taxpayers a "secure, easy and friendly mechanism to work through".

"Our plan is to decrease the number of people at the back-end of our operations and increase the number of people either providing service and education outreach, or on the enforcement side," he said at the time.

"Over the next five years or so, as this back-office machinery becomes leaner, as we automate our processes internally, you are going to get this repositioning in the system."

Gordhan added that the R140 million budgeted for the upgrade is paying for the use of Adobe 8.1, which allows taxpayers to complete and submit their income tax forms online.

It is also paying for the redrafting of the pro forma, printing, setting up new scanning machinery, "reorganising our pipelines around the country, training staff, reorienting staff, etc".

Gordhan this week said about 40% of the country's taxes are now collected through the various electronic formats offered by the revenue service.