PRETORIA, With the 2017 tax returns filing season now in full swing, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is targeting revenue collection of 1.265 trillion Rand (about 94.52 billion US dollars).

SARS wishes to inform the media that the new revenue target for the 2017/18 financial year is 1.265 trillion Rand, it said on Tuesday.

The tax filing season opened on July 1, 2017 for e-Filers, while it opened on Monday for those filing their tax returns at SARS branches.

On Tuesday, the revenue service said it had noted incorrect media reports of the revenue target for the 2017/18 financial year following the launch of this tax season by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane in Soweto, Johannesburg, on Monday.

SARS said it does not determine the revenue target but that it is determined by the Revenue Analysis Working Committee (RAWC). The committee comprises representatives from the National Treasury, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and SARS, which analyses and forecasts economic developments.

SARS said that it has, for the last two years, broken the trillion-rand mark in revenue collection and the preliminary outcome for the 2016/17 financial year was 1.144 trillion Rand. This extraordinary revenue target has been set in a strained economic environment and will see SARS put in extra effort to continue to bolster the national purse, said SARS.

Last year’s tax season saw SARS receive 6.31 million income tax returns. The tax season is the single biggest annual engagement between ordinary citizens and SARS.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK