A High Wealth Individual (HWI) is a person with gross assets worth R75 million or more. This group of taxpayers plays an important role in South Africa’s economy and in sustaining revenue growth. Following global standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), foreign tax authorities have established units which serve high-net-worth clients. Considering this development, SARS launched the High Wealth Individual Unit to provide clarity and certainty to HWI taxpayers, and to make it easy for these individuals to comply with their tax regulations by offering a specialised service. Our focus is to promote voluntary compliance, enhance revenue collection, and foster a fair tax environment.
As much as the HWI Unit is dedicated to assisting taxpayers with their legal obligations, we are equally committed to detect and deter non-compliance. The HWI Unit will act without fear or favour to make non-compliance hard and costly.
SARS HWI Unit
Launched in April 2021, the HWI Unit’s mandate is to deal with the complexity of HWI taxpayers’ tax affairs and to afford these taxpayers a differentiated and dedicated end-to-end service. By delivering an efficient service to HWI taxpayers, the HWI Unit aims to improve voluntary compliance.
The HWI Unit prioritises individuals with complex financial arrangements and substantial wealth, often derived from multiple sources.
The HWI’s mandate is to:
- Provide personalised services tailored to the complex tax affairs of HWIs.
- Build professional partnerships with HWI taxpayers.
- Resolve tax queries efficiently.
Value Proposition
The HWI promotes voluntary compliance while minimising costs for taxpayers and SARS. The HWI offers:
- Differentiated service: each HWI is assigned a dedicated relationship manager, ensuring consistent and proactive engagement to encourage transparent communication.
- Operational excellence: HWIs enjoy the expertise of highly skilled professional teams who specialise in resolving complex tax matters across all tax products and in multiple tax jurisdictions.
- End-to-end service: the HWI centrally manages taxpayers’ compliance requirements across the value chain of tax products.
HWI Office
Large Business, International, and High Wealth Individual Office
Woodmead North Office Park,
54 Maxwell Drive,
Jukskeiview,
Sandton,
2196
Need Help?
Clients in the HWI portfolio have a dedicated mailbox that deals with appointment requests and queries:
Please note: this mailbox is exclusively for High Wealth Individual clients. Queries received from other taxpayers will be directed to [email protected].
HWI clients can use these channels to verify their tax compliance:
- SARS Online Query System
- SARS eFiling
- SARS Contact Centre: 0800 00 7277
