SARS Service Failures: Practical Strategies for Effective Complaints and Escalation to the Tax Ombud

Date: Sep 8, 2026

CPD hours: 1 Hour

Time: 13:00 - 14:00

Event Type: Webinar

Learn how to navigate SARS complaints effectively, understand your taxpayer rights, use internal SARS remedies, and know when to escalate matters to the Office of the Tax Ombud. Gain practical insights into managing complaints and seeking fair, timely resolutions.

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Overview

Prolonged SARS verifications, delayed refunds, unresolved service requests, poor communication and officials who cannot be reached, rate amongst the top three significant concerns impacting tax practitioners.

The 2025 Tax Practice Insights survey records that this administrative load consumes billable hours daily, in practices that are mostly ten people or fewer and that carry an material compliance burden on thin profit margins.

Most practitioners know that the Office of the Tax Ombud exists as an independent avenue of recourse. Considerably fewer can answer the practical question on which the recovery of those hours depends: at what point does a SARS service failure become an Ombud complaint, what must be exhausted before that point, and what distinguishes a submission the Office accepts and acts on from one that is delayed or rejected.

Webinar content

Part 1: Complaint, Query or Dispute? Identifying the Correct Route

How to identify the correct route at the outset
The common mistakes that delay resolution
When an objection or appeal is the appropriate remedy rather than a complaint

Part 2: The Engagement Record, and What Must Be Exhausted First

The internal SARS escalation channels, and the order in which they are used
Building the record of SARS engagements as routine practice rather than a reconstruction exercise
What the Office of the Tax Ombud expects to see attempted before it will consider a matter

Part 3: What Makes a Strong Complaint to the Tax Ombud

The documents and evidence that should accompany a complaint
Structuring a clear complaint chronology
The common reasons complaints are delayed or rejected
Defining a realistic and achievable desired outcome

Part 4: Case Studies and Lessons Learnt

Delayed refund complaints
Procedural fairness complaints
Examples of effective complaint submissions
Trends emerging from taxpayer complaints, and the lessons they carry for practice

Part 5: Presenting a Complaint Persuasively

Presenting facts persuasively and professionally
Separating the complaint issue from the tax dispute
Avoiding undifferentiated document bundles
Managing a complaint from submission to resolution

Part 6: The Practice View — Delegation, Cost and Recovery

Which parts of complaint handling can properly be delegated to junior staff, and what that work develops in them
Assessing when escalation is worth the hours it will take
Whether and how that time is recovered

Q&A and open discussion

Competencies Developed

On completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

Distinguish a service complaint from a query and from a dispute, and identify the correct route at the outset, including when an objection is the proper remedy.
Identify what the Office of the Tax Ombud requires of a complaint: qualifying circumstances, the document set, the chronology, and why complaints are rejected.
Describe the internal SARS escalation channels to be exhausted before the Office of the Tax Ombud will consider a matter, and the record that evidences them.
Recognise the engagement record that makes a complaint inexpensive to assemble, and how it is maintained as routine rather than reconstructed under pressure.
Identify how a complaint is presented persuasively: a defined desired outcome, the service issue separated from the tax dispute, and evidence rather than a document dump.

Presenters

Frik Pretorius

Senior Manager: Legal Support Services

With over 30 years of experience in the legal and tax sectors, Pretorius, an admitted Attorney has built a distinguished career. Starting in private practice in 1993, he joined the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 1999 as an Attorney. By 2006, he became the Legal Specialist for Gauteng South, where he was instrumental in establishing the Alternative Dispute Resolution process.

In 2018, Pretorius joined the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) as a Specialist in Legal Services. He provides comprehensive legal services across the organisation and is an active member of the Operations Complaints Evaluation Committee and Dispute Resolution processes.

Pretorius holds a B-Proc from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, a Higher Diploma in Corporate Law from Rand Afrikaans University, a Higher Diploma in Insolvency Law from the University of Johannesburg, qualified LEAD Auditor (Cum Laude) and a Diploma in Dispute Resolution from Conflict Dynamics SA. He is also a panellist for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Yolisa Dyasi

Yolisa is a seasoned Tax Specialist and registered General Tax Practitioner (SA) with extensive experience at SARS, the Office of the Tax Ombud, and in private practice. She holds a B.Com Honours in Taxation from the University of Johannesburg and currently serves as National Tax Manager for one of South Africa’s largest property management companies, overseeing tax compliance for over 2,500 commercial clients. Yolisa is a respected authority in Tax Administration, known for her strong stakeholder engagement and dispute resolution skills. She regularly contributes to tax education through webinars, publications, and media appearances.