Let Us Handle Your SARS Audits
If you’re reading this, you likely need urgent assistance with your tax matters. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has a practice of auditing cases with large claims against income or specific claims such as home office deductions.
Understanding the Stress of Audits
SARS Audits can be stressful, especially when you’re unsure why you’re being audited. At times, audits may extend for more than a month without progress, heightening anxiety as you speculate about what SARS is examining. Usually, SARS requires up to 21 business days (around one month) to finalize an audit for the current year, and up to 90 business days for audits of previous tax years. If these deadlines are surpassed, it is recommended to contact the SARS call centre, ask a consultant to escalate the matter and file a complaint concurrently with the request to escalate with the SARS complaint office. If the SARS Complaints Office (CMO) takes more than an additional 21 working days, escalate the issue to the Tax Ombud. Kindly be aware that the tax Ombudsman will reject the complaint if this process has not been adhered to. Kindly keep in mind that the tax Ombudsman does not resolve cases but serves as a watchdog to ensure SARS complies with turnaround times and other aspects of tax administration.
The Role of Tax Practitioners
SARS may pose specific questions during an audit. Having an experienced tax professional review your case, prepare responses, and assess potential risks is essential. Seasoned tax professionals excel in efficiently handling SARS inquiries, reducing the likelihood of additional disputes. We suggest collaborating with full-time tax professionals who possess a solid track record, rather than relying on individuals who handle taxes occasionally. Since 2010, FMJ Financial has been working with individuals to ensure their taxes are current and compliant, helping them avoid penalties and other issues. A significant number of clients approach us after their former tax professionals are no longer available or have ceased practicing. Our enduring presence and reliability offer reassurance to our clients.
At FMJ Tax Consulting, we also assist in handling your objections and specialize in assisting clients with any tax-related queries.
Navigating Additional Assessments
If SARS raises an additional assessment which is detrimental, expertise is required to formulate a dispute and to lodge the dispute within the rules and stating the legal grounds the taxpayer wishes to present to SARS. Identifying assessment errors, offering legal justification for a dispute, clearly presenting the case to SARS, and correctly using the relevant SARS codes in an objection notice are crucial steps. Mistakes in this process can lead to significant repercussions. An experienced tax specialist can help in avoiding these issues. Skilfully resolving a conflict can be regarded as a form of art.
Why Choose a Specialist Tax Practitioner?
Disputing a tax assessment isn’t just about saying “this is wrong”—it’s about presenting a legally sound, well-supported argument that meets strict procedural requirements. That’s where a tax practitioner becomes especially valuable. Tax practitioners would generally prepare an audit considering the below principles.
- Identify Issues: Expert tax professionals are equipped to detect potential concerns or inaccuracies within a tax return. A tax practitioner would devise an action plan to contest the return timeously.
- Accurate Filings: If a return remains unamended post-submission, we have the ability to refile it accurately, which may help resolve the audit. (SARS typically allows a return to be filed no more than two times.)
- Document Handling: Experts understand which documents to provide to SARS, reducing additional inquiries and expediting the audit process.
- Minimizing Risk of Rejection: Many disputes fail due to procedural errors—late submissions, incomplete forms, or incorrect grounds. A practitioner ensures compliance with all requirements, reducing the risk of outright rejection.
- Communication with SARS: Interacting with SARS frequently demands significant time, expertise, and can be both challenging and complex. A tax practitioner serves as your representative, facilitating communication that is accurate, professional, and compliant with legal standards.
- Audit Scope Knowledge: Some cases are reviewed instead of being fully audited. Different types of audits need different skills.
Conclusion:
Formulating a tax dispute is a specialized process that blends legal knowledge, technical accuracy, and strategic thinking. Using a tax practitioner increases your chances of success, ensures compliance with SARS procedures, and reduces the stress and risk associated with challenging a tax assessment.
At FMJ Financial, we take pride in our expertise as industry professionals. Our expertise has been refined through our daily interactions with people and the numerous cases we manage. Not only are we qualified, but we also possess extensive experience as tax consultants. Don’t choose someone who deals with taxes inconsistently. Rely on the experts at FMJ Financial.
Trust the specialists at FMJ Financial.
Contact us for your assessment today. Its easy!*
- Request an initial assessment (T’s and C’s apply)
- Tell us what you need help with on our contact form
- Give us your contact details so we are able to give you feedback and a plan of action
Frequently Asked Questions
We work with hundreds of complex individual tax cases each year. As tax is our trade and we engage with SARS each day of our working life, we have learned how to present information to SARS, how to merge documents so that SARS could easily follow and we know which documents to submit to SARS and which documents would cause confusion. We work around this in our compilations and ensure that what is submitted to SARS is easy to follow, neatly presented and is exactly what SARS needs to verify audits.
We are different in that we spend a lot of time on our presentation which often leads to successful results with SARS.
We are also different in that should SARS ask questions, we consider carefully how to respond, draft written responses and give SARS exactly what is requested, nothing more, nothing less.
In the event that SARS disagrees, we lodge disputes, sometimes even on the same day SARS raises an additional assessment or the next day. 95% of our disputes are lodged within a week.
Should the objection fail and there are sufficient grounds to overturn an additional assessment, we present the information in an appeal which means that SARS legal gets involved. Due to the level of skill, qualifications and experience the tax practitioner has, the final result is per the individual return filed more than 95% of the time. (Excludes cases where information was withheld from the tax practitioner such as additional income).
We do not simply collect documents from a client and forward it to SARS. We assess documents, inspect the document for correctness and ensure that the position taken is correct, build and audit file that is simple and understandable and only then do we present SARS with a copy of our audit file. If there is no audit or review, we still keep the audit file for our current clients in case SARS opens a past return which happens on occasion.
Many clients approach us only after filing a return and after filing documents to SARS. This could make the case harder as we have to make sense of the position taken previously, and then formulate a new position and explain the reasons for the previous versions.
For example, lets say a person claims against a travel allowance and the taxpayer submits a logbook with a different opening to the previous year’s closing, this could cause irreparable damage to one’s case. Thus, if documents are merely forwarded from taxpayer to tax practitioner to SARS, one has to ask the value of the system. if on the other hand, this is inspected and any errors corrected, then the initial filing is likely to have a much more favorable outcome. There is value in inspecting documents, building a file and ensuring what is submitted to SARS is correct, accurate and understandable.
We have to understand a case before we can give feedback so we first do an initial assessment and then we are able to put together a plan of action.
If possible, we will provide an upfront quote otherwise we will call you to explain how we can assist.
Please see our video on the home page for further information.
- Regular feedback is given to clients when their case is in progress
- Your email will be answered within reasonable turnaround times, usually 1 to 2 working days.
- You can expect full management of your tax profile
- Timeous responses to correspondence
- Reminders for your specific deadlines
- A personalised tax service