‘REPRIEVE’ FOR OLD TAX DEBTS ENDING SOON
MBABANE – Old debts for all tax types excluding customs duties should be settled by the end of next month before they start attracting penalties.
To cushion taxpayers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, penalties and interest that have already accrued to old debt were waived on condition the principal amount would be settled in full by the end of next month.
Announced
The measures were announced by the Minister of Finance Neal, Rijkenberg, back in March this year.
Taxpayers were encouraged to pay in full the principal portion of their old debt with effect from April 1 up to September 30, 2020.
Meanwhile, other relief measures include the payment of provisional tax. This refers to provisional tax payments for the periods June 2020 and December 2020.
SRA Commissioner General Dumsile Masilela had to issue estimates for provisional tax based on previous year financial performance, as per the standard practice.
However, taxpayers were still expected to make their own estimates informed by the latest financial performance outlook and forward them to the commissioner general together with payment (where applicable)
“Taxpayers are still expected to present reasonable estimates for the projected performance of their businesses.
“The SRA reserves the right to call for more information and conduct other activities to verify the declarations,” reads the issued correspondence in part.
There were also announcements made regarding the filing of annual income tax returns.
Returns
This relates to filing for the 2020 tax year. Tax returns for prior years will not qualify under this concession. There was an extension of returns filing deadlines by three months before penalties kicked in.
However, taxpayers in a position to file early (in terms of the current filing dates) were encouraged to do so.
Regarding payment arrangements for income tax relating to 2019 tax year, it was announced that debt arrangements for such debts were only would be considered on a case by case basis upon submission of cash flow constraints.
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