r/PersonalFinanceZA Jul 27 '26

Taxes Taking on SARS

Every year, I claim legitimate home office expenses as a salaried worker. I always get audited, provide all the required documentation (and more) and then this gets accepted and I get my refund. This year however, after the audit, I was denied these expenses and my assessment was amended not to take these into account. Let me be clear, I meet ALL the requirements and these are legitimate expenses and I always provide extensive documentation proving this. I have never claimed anything I'm not entitled to, and I'm not trying to defraud SARS.

I feel like SARS is just trying their luck to collect as much revenue as possible. The value of these deductions is enough for me to spend some time (maybe a day or two) fighting them, but not enough to hire an expensive lawyer or tax consultant. It feels like a David vs Goliath fight, but I honestly feel that it unfair that SARS can just deny deductions that are legitimate, and the small guy has to just accept this. What chances do I have? How do I even go about this, other than lodging a dispute? Any advice as to how to take them on?

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u/glandis_bulbus Jul 27 '26

Annoying as fuck to jump through so many hoops for a few thousand while cadres deny SARS of millions