https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Legal Briefs / All Legal Briefs RSS ← Back
Consulting|Financial|SECURITY|Service|System|Systems|Technology|Solutions
Consulting|Financial|SECURITY|Service|System|Systems|Technology|Solutions
consulting-company|financial|security|service|system|systems|technology|solutions
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Protect your Tax Matters – eFiling Fraud, A Growing Concern

Close

Embed Video

Protect your Tax Matters – eFiling Fraud, A Growing Concern

Tax Consulting SA

28th June 2024

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

In today’s digital age, cybercrime is advancing at an alarming rate. As technology evolves, so do the tactics of cybercriminals. Unfortunately, your South African Revenue Service (SARS) eFiling account is not immune to these threats.

Warning Signs

Advertisement

Recent reports from SARS highlight a disturbing rise in fraud attempts and breaches of eFiling profiles. These breaches can lead to identity theft, financial loss and a lengthy process to restore your good standing with the authorities. These threats have evolved from simple click-bait scams to sophisticated and planned fraudulent activities, often targeting vulnerable individuals such as the elderly, disabled and expatriates.

These cleverly orchestrated profile hacks can wreak havoc on a taxpayer’s financial affairs. Some involve hacking an individual’s eFiling profile, where fraudsters target taxpayers with disabled children to generate a fraudulent refund. This requires detailed knowledge of the taxpayer and careful planning, including updating banking account details with SARS and fraudulently submitting a tax return.

Advertisement

Extra Vigilance Needed 

SARS warnings must be taken seriously. It is crucial to actively protect your registered details and monitor activities on your SARS profile. Regularly reviewing your SARS account activity, updating security measures, and staying informed of potential threats are essential steps to safeguard your personal and financial information.

Solutions for the Concerned Taxpayer and Practitioner

Most South African taxpayers and tax professionals are committed to compliance, aiming to pay the minimum amount of tax required while handling their tax obligations responsibly. Unfortunately, this respect for the law and dedication to compliance is precisely what tax scammers exploit.

At Tax Consulting SA, we recognize manually checking every item as practitioner or taxpayer may be impossible. This is where advancements in “good” technology may be the answer to combat the issue. As a firm we use the TaxCheck system, to automatically obtain crucial information about our clients' registered details and compliance status. This ensures there are no discrepancies and prevents fraudulent activity through advanced monitoring capabilities. These systems come highly recommended to both individuals and practitioners seeking to ensure compliance and active monitoring. 

Stay Safe

Protecting your SARS eFiling account requires diligence and the right tools. By staying informed, regularly monitoring your account, and using advanced systems like TaxCheck, you can safeguard your tax affairs from cybercriminals. Don't wait for a breach to take action—stay proactive and secure your tax matters.

Written by Nicolas Botha, Tax Team Compliance & Processing Manager at Tax Consulting SA

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za