JOHANNESBURG - On Thursday MoneywebTax was alerted in an e-mail from Chas Everitt that from October 2012, a new system introduced by the "South African Revenue Service (Sars) means that the transfer of any property will be subject to delay unless all the parties involved - including the estate agency - have their tax affairs in order".
Due to the potential unconstitutional nature of such a measure and possible damage to the property industry, MoneywebTax contacted Sars.
Mark Kingon, general manager for operations support at the South African Revenue Service said this is "a storm in a tea cup. Yes we ask for tax numbers but we don't stop transactions pending a person's affairs being in order on transfer duty.
"Nothing has changed we always ask the seller and purchaser for their tax number or annual income, we also explain it in the guide, the [Chas Everitt] statement is not correct. We are not checking their taxes are up to date or anything. We apply the same business rules as the old one. The new system and old - have the same rules".
He added that "Legally we [Sars] can't stop a transfer".
In response MoneywebTax contacted Meg Wilson the distributor of the Chas Everitt e-mail for clarity, she suggested we chat to Peter Dykes from Dykes Van Heerden Inc.
Dykes told MoneywebTax transfers are not being delayed if the tax affairs of estate agents, sellers and buyers are not in order. What did change from October 1, he added is that estate agents need to fill in their tax number on the transfer duty (TD) form.
Previously however, transfers were delayed if the seller owed money to Sars or the purchaser did not have their tax affairs up to date, in these instances conveyancing attorneys were appointed to act as an agent for Sars, but this is no longer the case.
For clarity MoneywebTax then spoke to Berry Everitt, MD of the Chas Everitt.
He explained that the Chas Everitt statement emanated from an e-mail sent by Melanie Coetzee of Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes, in which she said: "Every person who earns a portion of the commission must declare that revenue to Sars and which revenue becomes taxable. Each and every agent who earns a split of the commission must supply their income tax number, to be captured on the TD [transfer duty] forms for transfer duty purposes."
Everitt says this raises a number of questions such as, if an agent does not have a tax number, will Sars accept the TD without it? If not he adds, there will be a delay.
This is one of many scenarios that need clarification so we as an industry can be informed, he adds.
