Developers up in arms

SARS has allegedly refused to grant transfer duty receipts to property buyers whose tax affairs were not in order because they had submitted late tax returns or had outstanding balances or who were unregistered.

This forced developers to become agents for the Receiver of Revenue and also adversely affected developers' because sales were taking longer to conclude. SARS spokesman Sechaba Nkosi says SARS has started risk profiling purchasers and sellers of fixed property and where sellers are in default garnishee orders will be issued to recover their outstanding taxes. When the purchaser is in default, SARS will try to attach the property or register caveats over it.

Full article in Business Day