SARS forges ahead with 0.5% VAT hike despite DA legal challenge

File image: The Cape Town headquarters of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is seen in this picture.

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The South African Revenue Services (SARS) says it has made provisions to go ahead with the 0.5% VAT increase on May 1 despite receiving court papers about Democratic Alliance (DA) plans to interdict the Value-Added Tax (VAT) increase.

Addressing the Compliance Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Friday, SARS Deputy Commissioner for Taxpayer Engagement and Operations, Johnston Makhubu says the revenue service has been cited as one of the respondents.

Makhubu says, “As soon as we are able to get direction in our minds, we still believe we’re going to implement from the 1st of May and we do know that there is some implications that this would have for those that are trading, whether it is pricing or whether it is the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems that needs to be given some update, but we know that since this was announced, the various industry bodies we’ve engaged have been engaging with their members to try and make sure that we move in this regard.”