SARS e-filing system on the verge of collapse

The downfall of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has been attributed to the malmanagement practices suspended commissioner Tom Moyane administered during his tenure.

Moyane has been at the centre of retired Judge Robert Nugent's commission of inquiry into governance and administrative issues at SARS. Under his leadership, it is alleged that he and his cohorts have driven the revenue service into a hole of debt.

Moyane orchestrated the downfall of SARS e-filing system One specific sector of the revenue service that is on the brink of collapse, as reported by Business Day, is the tax agency's' IT infrastructure.

The bill to refurbish the revenue service's e-filing system would cost about R1-billion, according to reports. This, allegedly, is the result of Moyane's decision to halt the modernisation of the IT infrastructure back in 2014 when he took over as SARS' commissioner.

Read Judge Nugent advises Ramaphosa to fire SARS commissioner Tom Moyane immediately

The Nugent inquiry heard of how Moyane had influenced the international technology consultancy group, Gartner, to run diagnostics' on the revenue service's IT systems. Gartner is the company that was sold to Moyane by the Gupta-linked Bain & Company before he was made the commissioner at the tax agency.

Furthermore, Business Day reported that:

Evidence presented to the inquiry in September showed how Bain had helped craft plans that weakened the agency so much that South Africans eventually paid the price through higher taxes as the government struggled to plug resultant revenue shortfalls, which were also due to a weakening economy.

SARS' Head of IT, Andre Rabie, told the inquiry, on Monday, about the extent of the damage Gartner administered in the tax agency's IT systems and wallet.

Halting the modernisation programme and introducing a three-phase' diagnostic project at SARS, cost hundreds of millions of rand.

Read Auditor-General: SARS R4.3m in performance bonuses paid without ministerial approval

Rabie: It will cost R1bn to save e-filing system This, according to Rabie, was unwarranted and also unnecessary.

We are on a trajectory where failures will become the norm, which will have a huge impact on the tax and customs world , he stated.

Rabie warned that thanks to the decision Moyane took to halt the modernisation programme in 2014, SARS' e-filing system has about two more years before it collapses.

The software being used to manage forms in the system will not hold any longer than 2020, according to Rabie. He claimed that it would take SARS to make the bold move and stabilise its technology framework.

The cost of this is estimated at about R1-billion and it would require the skills of SARS' in-house IT team that has been outcast since the introduction of Gartner.

It will be the turn of Gartner to provide testimony at the Nugent Inquiry next week.

Tags: corruptionsarsTom Moyane

LINK:	https://www.thesouthafrican.com/sarsefiling-system-verge-of-collapse/...
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