Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has allocated an additional R4bn to Sars to help it strengthen its capacity to collect more tax revenue.
And the tax authority would immediately use the money to hire more than a thousand debt collectors to claw back up to R50bn per year in revenue owed to SARS.
Godongwana made the announcement when he tabled the 2025/2026 budget in parliament on Wednesday, his third attempt since February.
The two previous budget proposals, the first on February 19 and the second on March 12, were rejected by some ANC ministers, parties in the GNU such as the DA and the Freedom Front Plus as well those from outside the GNU like the EFF and the MK party.
They had clashed over Godongwana’s proposals to raised raise VAT, which has since been dumped after the DA and the EFF challenged the matter in court.
However, the performance of SARS will be monitored by assessing the change in the amount of cash collected, which will be published monthly.”
— Enoch Godongwana
In his latest budget proposals, dubbed budget 3.0, he announced that he was allocating R4bn to the taxman in the current financial year, with Sars receiving an additional R7.5bn in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) or the next three years.
Godongwana’s latest budget documents also showed that Sars had collected R95bn in debt during the previous financial year of 22024/2025.
“Over the MTEF period, the agency will receive an additional R7.5bn relative to the baseline.
“Part of this allocation is expected to increase debt collection by R20bn to R50bn per year.
“This potential revenue is not included in the revenue estimates. However, the performance of SARS will be monitored by assessing the change in the amount of cash collected, which will be published monthly.”
Godongwana had previously allocated R3.5 billion to SARS during the medium budget policy statement in November last year.
The allocations will also see SARS investing in new technology, data science and artificial intelligence to beef up its capacity to collect more money.
SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter has previously called on the national treasury to allocate it more resources for it to also go after tax dodgers.
At a pre-budget briefing, Kieswetter said he would be hiring up to 1,700 debt collectors chase billions of rands owed to Sars.
“In the month of April, we already hired 500, we’ve used the month of April to train them and upskill them, from the first of June we’ll bring a further 250 and that takes us to about 750,” Kieswetter explained.
Sars was aiming to collect at least R120bn in total tax debt in the MTEF period.
At the same time, Godongwana has reduced allocations to the government’s early retirement programme.
The early retirement plan is aimed at reducing the number of public servants by encouraging government employees aged 55 and above to retire early without incurring early withdrawal penalties.
The early retirement package has now been cut from R11bn to R5.5bn from this year, up to 2027.
“Discussions with organised labour on the process are underway in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). The allocation will be revisited on the conclusion of these consultations as part of the next budget process, although functions that are not parties to the PSCBC process-such as the department of defence-can proceed with implementation.”
Duncan Pieterse, the director-general of the national Treasury, said they were not aiming to entice at least 15,000 civil servants of advanced age to take early retirement, reduced the 30,000 that had been announced last year.
Allocations to the department of defence have also been cut by R2bn, due to the “expedited schedule for withdrawal” of SANDF troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
TimesLIVE
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