The South African Revenue Service says although necessary budgets are not yet available to upgrade its IT infrastructure, its e-filing system is currently operational.
This follows testimony from a senior SARS IT official that the e-filing system is at risk of collapsing in the next two years as a direct result of a decision made by suspended commissioner, Tom Moyane, in 2014.
Andre Rabie was testifying at the SARS inquiry on Monday. It has been reported that it could cost R1 billion to fix problems with the Revenue Service’s IT systems.
SARS Chief Officer for Digital Information Services, Mmamathe Makhekhe-Mokhuane reassured taxpayers.
She says: “E-filing is working, it is fully operational and we want to encourage our taxpayers to do e-filing. The problem is that we have not had necessary budgets to upgrade our systems. We have put submissions to the Treasury to say that our infrastructure is aging. Some parts of our infrastructure could go out of maintenance and support but e-filing is reliable and yes we have a deadlock, however for now please use e-filing and do so before the end of October.”
