New tax number requirement adds administrative burden

Companies are facing an additional administrative burden with a South Africa Revenue Service (Sars) requirement that everyone now has to have a tax reference number with no exceptions – including casual staff. Tax specialist and chairman of payroll software company NuQ, Ron Warren, says students “working for a pittance” during their holidays will be required to have a tax reference number, as will casual labourers taken from the street. The tax reference number has been made a mandatory field on the returns made by employers. The onus is on the employer to obtain tax numbers from all employees, casual as well as permanent staff. Warren says that although the tax reference number was made mandatory on the tax certificates submitted by employers in the 2010 tax year, Sars accepted tax certificates with missing tax reference numbers for the 2009 and 2010 tax years. “However, if a tax registration number is missing, a warning will be given by the e@ syFile programme that a penalty may be raised in respect of such missing numbers,” he said.