SARS appointed my employer as agent?

By Marc Sevitz · Updated 7 January 2013

According to SARS I have penalties of R22 250. I only discovered this recently after becoming more educated about the whole tax thing and investigated my own SARS status etc. Naturally I had to update my details and they now know where I work. 3 weeks ago, my employer received a letter saying something about appointment of agency and that she had to pay R1 500 per month over to SARS, in order to pay the penalties. Around the same time I went to SARS offices to log a dispute re the penalties and have not heard anything else. The letter my employer received must have been sent to her before I started the dispute. But now what? I work on commission. My basic is only R2 000 per month? Can they legally do this? What do I do now?

TaxTim Marc said:
9 January 2013 at 23:15

SARS is allowed to issue instructions for employers to take a monthly amount off in order to settle tax liabilities. This is called a garnashee order, but cannot put you in a position where you have to suffer further debt because they amount they are taking is too high.

The dispute process with SARS will take quite a long time, in the meantime they are allowed to ask for payment to be made against the penalties. You can go into a branch office and request that they suspend deductions until the process is resolved either way.