South Africa Revenue Service (SARS), South Africa’s tax authority, has unveiled five new technologies on its technology portfolio aimed at returning assessments in less than three minutes to the country’s tax payers.
The upgrade brings new service offerings including a new eFiling application for smartphones, filing tax returns through cellphones, real-time call centre assistance to help with filing (Help-You-eFile), training videos on how to eFile available on YouTube and most importantly, quicker assessments within minutes of submission.
However, the eFiling App, mobi site and Help-You-eFile service are in final testing and will be made available during the course of this tax season, according to SARS.
SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula said taxpayers who are willing to pilot these new services can contact SARS to participate in final testing over the next “few weeks.”
“Their experience and feedback will determine when we make these available to the wider taxpayer community,” Magashula said.
According to finance minister Pravin Gordhan, this is the first time such technology has been implemented in a service environment in South Africa,either by government or the private sector, and SARS expects more than 5 million tax payers to file returns within the next five months.
Last year, over 4.56 million people and trusts submitted their returns on time with 99 percent of them submitting electronically.
South Africa has experienced an Internet explosion with more people having access to smartphones, tablets and iPads over the past few years.
Currently, there are over 8.5 million Internet users in SA. The number is expected to grow to 10 million users and SARS is riding on this growth to ensure that taxpayers receive better services in the shortest time possible.
