SARS BLEEDING THE PUBLIC DRY FOR NO REASON

I was contacted by SARS on the 09/01/2023 regarding not submitting my tax return for the year 2007 and that I had a R250 admin penalty. I spoke to a consultant, and they said I need to raise a request for remittance against the penalty. I raised this stating I was below salary threshold and that I was only registered as a taxpayer in 2009.

This came back (2 months later) "allowed" which means approved as confirmed by a SARS consultant but only for R250. I was then told that I have a balance of R500 outstanding. This is because (after asking multiple times) due to the 2 months it took them to assess the request of remittance.

I'm then told this R250 will continue until I submit my return for 2007. I can't submit without an IRP5. I can't get an IRP5 as legally companies only need to keep 7 years of financial records. Then I am told to get an affidavit, but I must also go into a SARS office to get it sorted.

My questions are: Why am I being penalized for not submitting when it was not required? Why must I now submit a return from 16 years ago when it wasn't legally required?