CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA JANUARY 30: Former Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana appears before the parliamentary inquiry into state capture on January 30, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Montana gave an explosive account of the machinations of state capture when he testified at the inquiry into state owned enterprises. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Esa Alexander)
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Saturday revealed that former Prasa CEO Lucky Montana offered it R5.4 million as a compromise offer to settle the R55 million it says he owes it.
It added that it is also “untenable” for Montana to attack Sars while trying to settle his debt at the same time.
“A prerequisite in terms of the Tax Administration Act for SARS to consider a compromise offer, is that the tax debt may not be disputed. In other words, the taxpayer must accept that the tax is due and payable,” said Sars spokesperson Siphithi Sibeko.
Sars made this statement on Saturday after promising to disclose his confidential tax affairs unless he retracted the “false claims” he made against it this week.
Montana told IOL that Sars had “fraudulently doctored a fake court judgment to justify a hefty tax bill”. He also accused the taxman of “maladministration, abuse of power and a politically motivated witch hunt”.
Montana has been involved in a dispute with Sars since November 2020, when they initiated an audit of him.
This came after Sars said he failed to submit income tax returns in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Sibeko also said that Sars found that Montana had evaded tax by under-declaring income from various sources.
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