SARS IS COMING FOR YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has identified more than R523 billion in undisputed tax debt as at December 2025. This amount, according to SARS, represents tax that is legally due and already payable. Whether the full R523 billion is in fact undisputed is a completely different story.

SARS has indicated that it will significantly intensify its collection efforts in 2026, as pressure mounts to recover outstanding revenue.

A notable increase in personal income tax debt suggests that individual taxpayers may face increased scrutiny. SARS has indicated that it is shifting from assessment to active collection, with enforcement measures. SARS has already begun making use of AI to access taxpayers’ bank accounts, looking for undeclared income and therefore unpaid taxes.

SARS has identified the following collection and enforcement measures:

· Third-party appointments to financial institutions to deduct money directly from a bank account without prior knowledge, notice or authorisation from the tax payer;

· Civil judgments which are followed by the attachment of assets and sale in execution;

· Garnishee orders for salaried employees; and

· Potential criminal prosecution for non-compliance with a tax act.

Third-party appointments to banks to deduct money directly from a bank account has increased significantly over the past few months and is expected to increase even further as this seems to be the fastest method of collection.

Unfortunately not all amounts taken from your account by SARS represents undisputed debt. Once disputes and requests for suspension of payments have been filed with SARS, SARS will not be allowed to proceed with collection measures until such dispute has been resolved. Unfortunately quite a number of disputed claims have already been collected by SARS, despite tax practitioners following the prescribed procedures to prevent these collections. Once these funds have been transferred to SARS, recouping those funds that were unlawfully taken from your account might become a long tedious process.