SARS made me pay double entertainment taxes for an error I made on their Efiling website.

Hi. I have had to pay SARS R13000, R10 000 of which they have already deducted from my refund last year. I received a call and they have said that I still have an outstanding R3000 due to pay. I am a Filmmaker freelancer who works in the Film Industry, from job to job, being taxed 25% (standard in the entertainment industry). Sometimes, and this is a rarity by far, certain production companies do not submit tax on time. They sometimes don't submit at all, but I have had a company submit late and I'd have to submit an IRP5s for the following year. How I got charged 13k by SARS shows how *********** their system (efiling) as well as their consultants are. I went back to check on an old production company to see if they'd submitted an IRP5 that they hadn't in 2015. I also went to check on older IRP5s from 2008 and clicked submit on the SARS efiling site. To SARS, what it seemed I was doing, was resubmitting previous Assessments (why in the world would I resubmit IRP5s I've submitted already?) as oppossed to submitting new Assessments (from those bad Productions that delay submissions). I did not know, that by pressing "submit 2015" I am actually bringing myself to be indebted to SARS for 2015 again. Their system thinks that I have not paid my tax for the financial years of 2014/2015. What junk is that? How come SARS cannot store our IRP5s? Why is that you cannot add late submissions, even if it will be for the following financial year? Anyway, consequently now, SARS told me I had to pay them 13k and of course, I went in to their Edenvale branch and explained what happened. I spoke to a consultant who said there is nothing they can do to rectify my "mistake" and that SARS considers that I had not paid my taxes for years 2008, 2014/15.

I asked if they had a technical department that deals with the website and they said NO. SARS does not have a technical department that can assist clients who may have problems on their efiling website. So, here we are today, three months before tax season again, and I'm already sitting on a deficit of 3k with Sars. In fact, when I claim for any refunds this year, they will automatically deduct 3k. As freelancers, we really rely on our refunds because we get taxed alot. However, I feel SARS is not considerate toward website errors or even human error made by a tax payer. I have spoken to so many contact centre agents of theirs, as well as their collections department, explaining this matter, and it doesn't seem to be getting through to them, as the people who call, don't even have the slightest idea of how the Efiling website works. It's a fiasco of note.

The worst part of this ordeal is not having someone at SARS to speak to, who would understand the site or better yet, how errors and can be correct or reversed. I don't speak the tax language because it is quite esoteric. Technically speaking, I paid 50% taxes for years 2015, 2007/2008.

I would like someone from SARS to get in touch with me, but I know that's reaching, because they won't.