SARS has been outsourcing overdue debt that is older than five years to external third-party debt collectors from October 2023. The debt collectors will assist with overdue accounts where no active payment or attempts to make payment arrangements have been made.
Taxpayers liable to have their debt collected through EDCs are those whom SARS has contacted or sent letters of demand outlining debt resolution-options, but who have failed to settle their accounts or formalise payment arrangements. Affected taxpayers will receive a handover notification from SARS. These EDCs will assist with the resolution and payment of overdue accounts. Below is the list of the authorised EDCs:
It is a criminal offence to submit a return without making the necessary payment in terms of Section 234(2)(d) read with subsection (k) of the Tax Administration Act (TAA). It is a criminal offence for a person to wilfully and without just cause to fail or neglect to withhold and pay to SARS an amount of tax as and when required under a Tax Act as per section 234(2)(k) of the TAA.
Taxpayers can now request Account related queries (balance statements) and/or a Statement of Account by sending an SMS to SARS on 47277. Send the following wording to 47277: Balance (Space) ID number/Passport number/ Asylum Seeker number
These services can be accessed with or without data/airtime. For more detail, see the Guide to SARS Mobile Tax Services.
