Author: Yasmeen Suliman

South Africa’s fiscus needs every rand in tax revenue it can get, but potentially lucrative revenue streams are out of reach because tax registration snarl-ups prevent would-be taxpayers from contributing. Registration delays are being experienced across various tax types, from VAT and carbon tax to the health promotion levy (the so-called ‘sugar tax’), which is problematic for businesses and the fiscus.  The registration requirements are onerous and the norm for a VAT registration is well beyond the turnaround time of 21 business days that the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has committed to. Recently, even with large corporates and multinationals,…