The world economy is still in a fragile state and battling to
gain momentum as many developed countries continue to feel the
after-effects of the global financial crisis and several developing
nations continue to grapple with inherent inefficiencies. South
Africa is no different, with The South African Reserve Bank's
forecast growth outlook for 2015 being revised down from 2.5 per
cent to 2.2 per cent, and that for 2016 from 2.9 per cent to 2.4
per cent. Concomitant to this is the 2012 figures from the World
Bank, which ranks South Africa as having the ninth highest tax: GDP
ratio at 26.5% of GDP.
Notwithstanding the further domestic issues such as corruption
and wasteful expenditure, it is clear that SARS is coming under
increasing pressure to collect more revenue to fund government
spending. With this increased pressure comes the propensity for
SARS to perhaps utilise its powers contained in the Tax
Administration Act, 28 of 2011 ("the
TAA") with a little more
