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IMPORTANT TAX DEADLINES TO REMEMBER
- 24 January 2024: Individual provisional taxpayers 2023 tax returns
- 29 February 2024 Companies, Close Corporations with February year ends 2023 tax returns
- 28 February 2024: 2024 second provisional tax estimates and payments for provisional individual taxpayers, Companies, Close Corporations and Trusts with February year ends.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PUBLIC OFFICER/TAX REPRESENTATIVE
Section 246 of the Tax Administration Act No 28 of 2011 requires that every company carrying on business or having an office in South Africa must at all times be represented by an individual residing in South Africa.
Who can be a Public Officer/Tax representative?
The individual representative must be approved by SARS and must be a person who is a senior official of the company. If no senior official resides in South Africa, the individual representative may be another suitable person appointed by the company.
The individual representative must be called the Public Officer of the company and must be appointed within one month after the company begins to carry on business or acquires an office in the Republic.
If a Public Officer is not appointed as stated above, the Public Officer is the director, company secretary or other officer of the company that SARS designates for that purpose.
Responsibilities of a Public Officer/Tax Representative
A Public Officer is responsible for all acts, matters, or things that the company must do under a Tax Act, and in case of default, the Public Officer is subject to penalties for the company’s defaults.
A Company is regarded as having done everything done by the Public Officer in the Officer’s representative capacity.
How to appoint a Public Officer/Tax Representative
A resolution needs to be passed conferring the required person to sign returns, objections, appeals, to take legal notices, and generally to represent the company. The resolution needs to be signed by all Directors / Members of the company.
The appointed Public Officer needs to sign an acceptance of his/her appointment letter.
The signed resolution and acceptance letter needs to be submitted at your nearest SARS branch, together with the following documentation:
- Company registration documentation
- 3 months originally stamped bank statements of the Company
- Proof of address of the Company
- Proof of address of the Public Officer
- Originally certified copies of all Directors / Members, and the Public Officer’s identity documents.
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