Yes, you read that right! The SA Revenue Service (SARS) is going after individuals who are into luxury-goods purchases as it is suspected that many are intentionally hiding sources of income from the authorities, News24 reveals.
This was announced by Chief Revenue Officer Johnstone Makhubu at a press conference earlier this week.
“We’re starting to look at who is buying luxury apparel and we’re trying to find out where do these people get their money.”
A unit was formed by the tax office last year to focus on individuals with high net worth and complex financial arrangements.
About 25 lifestyle audits were completed, which flagged about R474 million rand of assessments that is to be collected.
SARS is increasingly shifting toward marrying its traditional audit and accounting competencies with data engineering and analytics to improve compliance and ensure that initiatives like lifestyle audits become “hardwired” into its operations, he said. Some data led to investigations into people suspected of siphoning money off faith-based organizations to fund their lifestyles, Makhubu said.
source: via News24
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