A one-day strike by South African Revenue Service (SARS) has not affected e-filling operations, the tax man says.
Workers embarked on one day of industrial action yesterday over a wage dispute. Spokesman Adrian Lackay says SARS is offering a sliding scale of 9 to 11%, with lower paid workers receiving the biggest increases. However, unions want 12.8%, he says.
Although up to 60% of staff went on strike, e-filing from PCs was not affected, Lackay says. However, people who went into branches to e-file were unable to do so as the service was operating on skeleton staff.
All offices across the country remained open for business and branch offices in the Western Cape - Bellville and Cape Town - were the most affected in the morning by an attendance rate of about 20%.
Branch offices in Durban and Cape Town were closed temporarily for a short period during protest actions, but later resumed operations. The reduced number of workers resulted in longer queues, SARS says.
It is not likely that the tax deadline will be extended, says Lackay. South Africans have until 18 September to file manual returns and 20 November to file online.
Other areas where operations were affected included border posts. Lackay says some staff members marched today, despite the set date for the protest being over.
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