In terms of the current Tax Court rules published under the
Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962, where the Commissioner for the South
African Revenue Service ("SARS") did not
comply with the prescribed time frames in respect of dispute
resolution, practically, there was little
that a taxpayer could do. This could change in terms of
the proposed new Tax Court rules
expected to come into force later this year.
To illustrate the current difficulty faced by the taxpayer
in having matters promptly dealt with, SARS,
in a fairly recent unreported case, sought condonation
for the late filing of a Statement in terms of rule
10 of the current Tax Court rules. In delivering its judgment in
favour of SARS, the court noted that it should be very careful to
place a threshold at so high a level that it would result in the
inability of SARS to prosecute what may well be a legitimate case
regarding unpaid taxes from a party such as the taxpayer, that the
public interest demands that all
