By Umamah Bakharia

Finance Minister Enock Godongwana in his maiden Budget Speech, announced that tax revenue collections have outperformed last year’s budget projections by R182-billion in the current financial year.

In reaction, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said improvements to this year’s tax revenue collections are due to hard work and dedication by the revenue service.

Keiswetter speaks to Radio Islam on SARS collection services this past year.

“It [is] a contribution of various aspects [such as] the general uplift in the economy, we’ve seen the biggest improvement in the economy has come from the mineral sector and that has been driven by levels of production and also the commodity pricing,” says Keiswetter.

He adds that the exchange rates, the increase in manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the logistic and communication sectors have influenced SARS performance.

“There has been a general improvement specifically in the first half of the financial year,” says Keiswetter.

SARS has collected R48 billion worth of debt as of the end of January. The service recovered this amount by working through 2.4 million unresolved debt cases which stem from taxpayers not paying their dues.

As of recent, 220 cases involving crimes were handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in which 43 related cases PPE scandal. So far, according to Keiswetter, SARS has convicted around 113 crimes, 11 of which are PPE related.

“A body of work, focused effort that ultimately brings a file to a point we can hand it over to the NPA ready for prosecution,” says Keiswetter.

He adds that SARS employees are working hard and are on high alert against corruption and fraudulent activities to curb crimes.