Let paying your taxes be less of a hassle

As the saying goes, the only certainties in life are death and taxes. So why not make paying taxes, and therefore life, easier? The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is doing just that by introducing its e-filing service to the country`s taxpayers.

Indeed, our SARS is one of the visionaries in this field as only a few countries globally, including SA and the US, currently offer such a service to their taxpayers.

The SARS has appointed five official e-filing providers of which Dimension Data was the first to roll-out the service with its Web-based i-Tax solution.

"i-Tax serves as an electronic gateway, not only saving time and money, but transforming the way individuals and businesses interact with SARS," says Eric van Rensburg, business unit manager at Dimension Data i-Commerce.

i-Tax, available to anyone who deals with the SARS, be it to make payments or request directives, is ideal for tax practitioners. It enables tax issues such as certificates, VAT, PAYE, and SDL to be conveniently dealt with.

Tax practitioners are able to guarantee to their clients that the i-Tax service is SARS-approved and the process safe - indeed, the Web site features an `appointed by SARS` logo. An additional plus for users of this approved service is that should a form submitted in time to the service provider reach SARS late or be lost, the liability lies with the service provider and not the tax practitioner or company.

"Electronic filing means the files cannot be lost or mislaid. i-Tax guarantees secure back-up of files which is kept for a minimum period of five years. Tax practitioners can, via i-Tax, offer their clients a secure 24X7 service," he says.

The Web site is a highly effective and robust solution which can be rapidly deployed with no risk to the user. The cost is minimal, as a person is only charged a small fee per transaction and, in the case of a tax practitioner, a fee is negotiated.

There are also no extra costs, such as registration or monthly subscription fees and there is no limit to the number of registered users.

Van Rensburg comments that e-filing is taking the country by storm. "Since i-Tax went live last year, we`ve already handled approximately 100 000 tax directives."

But, how does i-Tax work? Companies, tax practitioners and individuals can register online with SARS via the i-Tax Web site or a Web site that is powered by the i-Tax engine. Users can then complete the relevant tax forms electronically.

"If a form is completed correctly, SARS will send us a notification, which users can check on the Web site. We will also send the approved form in PDF format back to the user within 24 hours. But, more importantly we also send a notification if a form was not filled in correctly.

"Tax practitioners and individuals then simply take a look at the form again, see what they`ve done wrong and re-submit after they`ve rectified it," explains Van Rensburg.

Users will also find that the i-Tax Web site is really user-friendly. "When problems pop up, whether it is an IT- or tax-related query, people can phone the i-Tax Call Centre and a consultant will assist them. We also have round the clock technical support."

i-Tax, which facilitates electronic communication with SARS, is an example of Dimension Data`s strategy to consistently play a leading role in developing e-business locally and globally.

The i-Tax Web site is driven on best-of-breed technology, with the back-end system based on the latest Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform, making it highly scalable and reliable, catering for future growth.