A taxpayer who worked in South Africa (SA) left the country in 2014 to live and study abroad in Japan. She stayed overseas for three years, not filing a tax return because she was advised that there was no need to submit a tax return for the period she was out of SA because she earned no income in SA. She returned 3 years later (2017) and for some reason, SARS placed a garnishee order on her salary and she was ordered to pay SARS in excess of R100k. She was a full time student during her period abroad. She departed from SA on the 6 September 2014 and she returned on the 28 September 2016. Is it too late to lodge a dispute? Or can she still file the tax returns she didn’t file?
Important:
This answer is based on tax law year ending 28 February 2021.
Answer:
If the tax debt arise from an income tax assessment (delivered before September 2016), it would be too late to object to the assessment. The same applies to assessments delivered more than three years ago. The fact that the receipts, during the period of absence, may have qualified for the exemption provided for in Article 19, is irrelevant – a return was required. It is possible that the penalties was imposed for the non-submission of returns (the administrative non-compliance penalty). It may also be too late to object to that, but is worth a try.