The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has announced that unions have suspended their strike at the tax body and have reported for duty as the wage negotiations process continues.

Sars said in a statement on Friday that the Public Servants Association (PSA) suspended its industrial action first and the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) suspended its strike on Monday.

This comes after strike action caused disruptions at customs offices and branches around the country. At the height of the action, as many as 18 branches around the country were closed during the day, with Sars urging taxpayers to use its online services instead of visiting branches.

Sars said the suspension of the industrial action allowed all parties in the wage negotiations to work towards progressing the talks and settling the dispute.

"In light of this announcement by the two unions, striking employees are back at work and Sars operations, including trade facilitation at our borders, are continuing as usual," Sars said.   

Sars said follow-up discussions, as well as the national bargaining process, would resume soon.

Nehawu spokesperson Lwazi Nkolisi told Fin24 that the union returned to duty as Sars worked with labour to resume wage talks in a bid to break the deadlock.

"Yes, I can confirm that we have suspended the strike action on the eighth to give space for negotiations and discussions at the Sars National Bargaining Forum," said Nkolisi.

The demand from organised labour is a CPI plus 7% wage increase, but Sars has previously said this demand would be unaffordable until it received further funding.