Does the tax administration act sufficiently protect the taxpayers' right to privacy or provide the taxpayer with a right to be informed?

• Main Author: Britz, Jaco
• Other Authors: West, Craig
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8564

Includes bibliographical references. === This dissertation endeavours to establish whether the Tax Administration Act sufficiently protects the taxpayers' constitutional rights to privacy and right to be informed. Specifically it will be investigating these rights versus the powers provided to SARS under the different fiscal statutes to access information and to exchange information internationally. The research focussed on the rights conferred on taxpayers in terms of the Constitution versus the powers awarded to SARS in terms of the Tax Administration Act and the Income Tax Act. The research included other relevant fiscal statutes, books, case law, websites, articles and comments of experts. It has been said that the Commissioner of SARS has "draconian powers" that infringe on the rights of taxpayers. My research concludes that most of these rights are reasonable and justifiable limited in the interest of a democratic society in order to fund the administrative and financial burden on the state. The current society with advanced information technology has resulted in information being easily accessible and transferred and accordingly our privacy is being more invaded than before. This is also the case in dealings with the tax authorities but is considered a justifiable infringement in order to collect taxes to finance an open and democratic society. Tax authorities around the world are entering into tax information exchange agreements that make the sharing of taxpayer information permissible by law. The search and seizure powers without a warrant are substantially unconstitutional. It should be noted that these powers have been challenged in court and the Commissioner will not easily authorise such actions without being convinced that his actions are above the law. Taxpayers' will therefore not be subject to these powers on a regular basis. Taxpayers' are not always informed of their right to administrative justice that ensures lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair administrative actions by the Commissioner. The newly appointed tax ombudsman will be a more cost effective remedy for challenging the powers of SARS and it is likely that the future will bring about more precedents that will prevent the abuse of powers. The Tax Ombudsman will have a duty to educate taxpayers' about their rights and also to educate the SARS officials on reasonable and procedurally fair conduct.