Sars boss, National Treasury in talks on tax breaks if you generate your own energy

“It’s absolutely a fact that load shedding has a huge impact on economic activities and has crippled many companies. Before recent articles about small businesses not being able to cope, larger businesses made similar announcements so we expect it to have a material impact on our ability to collect revenue. Secondly, we also find that during times of crisis, people are more likely to be ultra-conservative and where there is an opportunity to take the opportunity to withhold paying taxes, so our [Sars] debt book grows considerably,” he says. 

Kieswetter was not pulling punches in a frank discussion with journalist Alishia Seckham at a PSG Think Big webinar yesterday. 

In the last year, Sars had to resolve 2.2-million cases requiring follow-ups in the form of a phone call, a message and/or a letter and Kieswetter says tireless work by Sars officials in this regard netted almost R60-billion in tax revenue. 

New provisions needed to address energy crisis

On the subject of potential tax rebates and incentives to help South Africans deal with the energy crisis, Kieswetter offered his opinion as both a South African citizen and the Sars commissioner. He points out that the last tax amendment in respect of renewable energy was made in 2016 when the accelerated depreciation allowance on renewable energy was amended from three years (50% - 30% - 20%) to an even quicker depreciation allowance of 100% over one year. This effectively translates to a 28% discount on companies’ investment in renewable energy resources. 

“I believe that when that was introduced, we would not have been as consciously aware of the extent to which the energy crisis would regress and what other instruments we need to respond to it. I have already engaged my colleagues (National Treasury) to say we should be reviewing what additional provisions we can make to provide some relief and some incentive for people to become more self-sufficient,” he says.