Dispute Resolution Enhancements for Trusts

7 May 2024 – An essential part of the delivery of SARS’s Vision 2024 is the organisation’s digital platforms and technology infrastructure. As such, on 20 April 2024, SARS successfully released the system enhancements to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in resolving Trust tax disputes. These enhancements will aid in providing clarity and certainty and make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations.

The Trust dispute process was always a manual process that was done using the ADR1 and ADR2 forms (alternative dispute resolution forms). The new enhancements for Trusts will entail the submission of disputes through eFiling or by visiting a SARS branch. Therefore, the current electronic functionalities for disputes, Requests for Reasons, Requests for Remission (RFR), Notices of Objection, and Notices of Appeal, now accommodate submissions by Trusts.

Both channels will assist taxpayers in capturing the RFR, or dispute, via a fully guided process.

However, it should be noted that Trusts that submitted any of the processes mentioned above before 20 April 2024 should still conclude their dispute through the manual process.