The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has unveiled its revenue collection outcome for the 2023/24 fiscal year, which exceeded its expectations by over R10 billion.

As of March 2024, SARS achieved a record-breaking gross collection of R2.155 trillion, marking a 4.2% increase year-on-year against nominal GDP growth of 4.9%.

Notably, refunds totaling R414 billion were disbursed to taxpayers, an unprecedented amount reflecting an 8.6% growth compared to the previous year.

This brought the net collected amount to R1.741 trillion, surpassing revised estimates by nearly R10 billion and exceeding last year’s total by R54 billion.

Commissioner Edward Kieswetter says he remains concerned about refund fraud and abuse, after SARS successfully prevented the outflow of R101 billion in impermissible refunds during the review period.

Despite challenges posed by fluctuating revenue streams, personal income taxes witnessed a notable surge of R49.5 billion (8.2% year-on-year), while corporate income tax experienced a decline of R31 billion (-8.9%). However, small businesses demonstrated resilience, with their contribution increasing by 8.8%.

SARS also upped the pressure on taxpayers who willfully fail to meet their obligations through its compliance programme which contributed a preliminary R293.7 billion as at end of March. This is an increase of R61.9 billion (26.7%) from the previous year’s R231.8 billion.

The Revenue Services’ relentless pursuit of justice extends to the courtroom, where its litigation strategy boasts an impressive success rate of 84%. Criminal investigations have yielded convictions totaling 49 years of imprisonment.

The South African Institute of Taxation’s (SAIT) CEO Prof. Keith Engel has welcomed the delivery of the 2023/24 preliminary revenue results, saying it shows that the strategy is working.

The strategy has been not to raise taxes on the innocent, but to expand the tax base on the guilty.

Engel adds that there is growth in the number of taxpayers with a focus on high-net-worth individuals, while voluntary compliance has grown from 61.6% to 63.9%. There is also an attempt to eliminate failure to disclose through third-party.

Kieswetter says since its inception, SARS has collected R21.6 trillion in net tax revenues.

“The R21.6 trillion tax collections represents a compound growth of 9.9% per year since the inception of SARS in 1997. This has funded the South African democracy and touched the lives of millions who would be destitute without government support and services. We, who have the privilege to work at SARS are justly proud of these achievements because these efforts contribute directly to nation-building and sustain our democracy.”