The South African Revenue Service (SARS) Paarl Excise office is to relocate to the Paarl Receiver's office this month. The move is part of SARS' objective to deliver improved services to taxpayers in the Western Cape. The office moves from 276 Main Street to 19/20 Mark Street on Tuesday, 16 February 2004.
The excise office is responsible for the collection of import and export duties on more than 300 spirit, wine, beer and tobacco manufacturers and distillers. It ensures that licensing, registration and assessment of warehousing requirements, monthly excise account completion, assessment of duties, payment terms and rebated movements are in line with the requirements of the Customs Act.
The relocation is part of Siyakha - a national turnaround strategy aimed at transforming SARS into a more efficient and customer-orientated administration.
SARS is confident that the move will benefit excise taxpayers as it supports improved business processes in the region.
The recently renovated Paarl Revenue office operates as a service centre that caters for registration, submission of tax returns, fielding of enquiries and resolution of problems in a customer-friendly environment by a trained professional staff.
There is a cash hall on site for all transactions and a drop-box for cheque payments and other correspondence.
In its goal to create a customer-centric organisation in the Western Cape, SARS recently opened the lines to a new and improved Western Cape Revenue call centre, 0860 12 12 18. Taxpayers are now able to route all tax related queries to 120 call centre agents and consultants between 07h00 and 17h00 on weekdays.
Other services available from the service centre include statement of accounts, revised assessments, deferred payments, clearance certificates and changes to personal details. Internet kiosks are also available on site for e-filing taxpayers.
Since last year SARS has focused its attention at improving its service offering to the Western Cape tax paying public. SARS aims to demonstrate its respect for the needs of taxpayers consistently through a more hospitable, professional and customer-centric location.
This will aid in making compliance easier, enable the accurate calculation of tax duties and will lead to increased turnaround times.
The Paarl Excise office's postal address remains Excise, PO Box 41, Paarl, 7620 and the telephone number changes to 021 872 2181.
Taxpayers should note that all revenue-related correspondence via post should now be addressed to the assessment centre at South African Revenue Service, Cape Mail, 8076.The renovation of resources in the Western Cape will help SARS to improve revenue collection which will, in turn, result in more money to the fiscus, the reduction of the tax burden for individuals and improved household incomes.
ISSUED BY THE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
PRETORIA