The 2010 tax season opened yesterday morning, with the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) satisfied that its e-filing system will perform without any problems.
Anton Fisher, media officer at SARS, says there have been quite a number of people who have successfully used the SARS eFiling system to submit their tax returns. “With the opening of the eFiling system, we haven't seen any glitches or problems...”
He says the eFiling facility was “unofficially opened” the evening before the official opening on Thursday. “Between that time and 10am on Thursday morning, 12 000 taxpayers had filed their tax returns using the eFiling system.”
He says that currently, SARS is looking at around 3 000 taxpayers filing per hour using the eFiling system.
Communication uptake
“The message SARS wants to get out is that we are working to make the service easy and convenient for people to use, but also that we will be taking a harsh stance against non-compliancy,” says Fisher.
In order to do this, Fisher says SARS has implemented several service initiatives, as well as enforcement initiates designed to ensure tax returns are submitted.
eFiling gains popularity
The commissioner says in the last three years, SARS has seen the growth of electronic submission of income tax returns, with 93% of all submissions received in the 2009/10 tax year having being received electronically.
SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula reports that the eFiling solution has been enhanced to allow contact centre and branch staff to be able to see the full history of interaction over a case to help resolve queries. This is achieved through its e-case tracking facility.
Magashula says SARS has further enhanced the speed in which tax returns are generated on eFiling, having converted to Adobe Flash Player, which he says “massively reduces the time taken to request a return or to receive a saved return”.
The use of Adobe Reader will still remain available for those who do not want to use the Adobe Flash Player.
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