Four individuals and two companies are due to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on separate dates, on charges of contravention of the Tax Administration Act. Their cases will be heard soon.
The first case, involving a 43-year-old man, is set for 26 February, while that of a 39-year-old suspect and his company is set for 6 March. The third case, against a 39-year-old and 40-year-old man, plus their company, is set for 12 April.
The Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team confirmed that the suspects had been served with a summons to appear in court on the dates in question, adding that they were charged with contravention of the Tax Administration Act.
Capt. Christopher Singo, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said preliminary probing by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) uncovered the suspects’ alleged tax-evasion and fraud.
“The 43-year-old man’s tax evasion resulted in Sars losing more than R1 000 000,” he said.
Singo said the matter against the 39-year-old suspect pertained to submitting false value added tax (VAT) 201 returns.
“This resulted in Sars losing more than R1 000 000,” said Singo, adding that the incident took place between 2018 and 2019.
The incident involving the two individuals, the company director and accountant, plus the company, reportedly took place during the period of 2017 to December 2020.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said the individuals allegedly underdeclared their corporate income tax (CIT) and output VAT for the period of April 2017 to December 2020.
“The Sars criminal investigation section pursued an internal investigation and discovered that Sars had been prejudiced and suffered a loss of about R818 247,43,” she said.
Matoti said that on 11 April last year the matter had been referred to the Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team for investigation.
