SARS slaps ANC with R102m tax bill – sheriff instructed to attach property

SARS has slapped the ANC with a R102-million bill for unpaid taxes that it had to go to the high court to get paid. In December, the Gauteng High Court issued a civil judgment instructing the sheriff to attach assets to the value of R102,546,580.76 in 10 days.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for whether it had done so or not. The ANC has confirmed the judgment against it for tax arrears to Daily Maverick. It has made payment arrangements and started paying.

On 25 March, the Weekly SA Mirror, an independent newspaper, reported the judgment. 

The ANC employs 346 staff members at its Luthuli House headquarters, and it has not paid over employee tax, UIF or the skills development levy, although it deducted these from staff. In 2021, staff repeatedly protested at Luthuli House, and the party kept promising to pay but did not. The trade union Nehawu, which organises ANC staff members, revealed that UIF and provident fund deductions had been made but not paid over.

The SARS judgment has clarified that the party did not pay over personal income taxes or the skills development levy. The low staff numbers and the high tax bills suggest the ANC has not paid taxes due for years.

The ANC has been hit hard by implementing the Political Party Funding Act, which makes it mandatory for donors to disclose any donation of more than R100,000.00. Now treasurer-general Paul Mashatile has said the party will table amendments to lift the donation cap from R15-million annually to R100-million, BusinessLive reported in February. 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-12-the-anc-a-tax-evader-massive-debt-unpaid-salaries-dry-donation-taps/

“We are frustrated at how certain entities – generally politically connected, including to the ANC – have been able to get away with non-payment to SARS. We saw this at SA Express, the Post Office, ANC and more. Imagine if a private airline or PostNet (a competitor to the Post Office) or the DA did not pay their taxes? All hell would be let loose and rightly so as the law is the law. In short, we believe SARS should not hesitate to go out against all perpetrators and hold their respective accounting officers to account with fines, jail time and more,” said Wayne Duvenage of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)

SARS does not comment on individual tax affairs. Daily Maverick’s Marianne Merten reported how aggressively SARS goes after taxpayers. Daily Maverick readers have said that compliance levels imposed by SARS have become draconian. Most of the reports were from individual taxpayers and small business owners. DM