7 June 2007
Cape Town: The Minister of Finance, Mr. Trevor A Manuel, MP, today tabled
the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill in Parliament.
Among the tax proposals contained in the Bill is the request to the
legislature to extend the window period of the Small Business Tax Amnesty by
one month to 30 June 2007.
I am pleased to announce that the South African Revenue Service (Sars) had
received more 275 398 amnesty applications from small businesses by Saturday 2
June 2007.
From the experience over the last two weeks � during which an additional 2
days were allowed for submissions � and from interviews conducted with
applicants, it became clear that many businesses wanted to become tax compliant
and make their entities legal.
I also met 5 organisations on Monday this week who presented their case for
requesting an extension. Those businesses that could not make the initial
deadline will benefit from a short extension.
The Bill that was tabled today proposes a one month extension to the amnesty
process until 30 June 2007. Sars will also be permitted to allow applicants
time until 31 August 2007 to submit all documents supporting their amnesty
applications.
It must be emphasised that the extension is granted from a position of
strength. The response to the amnesty has been overwhelming and staff at Sars
must be complemented for the way in which they administered the amnesty.
The challenge now is for business leaders and representative organisations
to demonstrate that they can deliver increased numbers of applications.
For further media enquiries, please contact:
Adrian Lackay
Sars Communications
Cell: 083 388 2580
Issued by: South African Revenue Service
7 June 2007
