THE CHIEF of the recently formed SA Revenue Service (SARS) - a combination ofthe Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise departments - is on the warpath, according to Alan Cowell, outgoing executive director of SAAFF (SA Association of Freight Forwarders).
Speaking at a meeting of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce, SARS chief executive, Piet Liebenberg, put the Customs-world to rights on certain matters.
He highlighted some operational, structural and procedural plans, most of which Cowell feels made a lot of sense. These deal with a Customs department which is responsible for gathering some R21-billion of the government's annual tax income.
The main concern in the SARS at present, according to Liebenberg, was to establish administrative autonomy. To this end, legislation is being prepared - which is hoped to appear before parliament in the first quarter of next year. This, he said, would allow the SARS to prepare three-and five-year plans, and manage its staff accordingly. Until the autonomy is achieved, no money will be spent on extra training, according to Liebenberg, who feels that - under the present employment conditions - his personnel are too easily poached by the private sector. Until salary rates and conditions become competitive, SARS will remain a feeding ground for outside businesses.
