How SARS views it

Here at SARS we have a simple philosophy that most people want to do the right thing and pay tax.

So we want to find that small portion of people who deliberately want to cheat the tax system. In short, it’s these people who will face criminal prosecution and maximum civil punitive measures.

Let’s spell it out clearly. In 2011, a person was convicted and received a jail sentence of 30 years for tax evasion. Administrative understatement penalties amounting to an additional 200% plus compounded interest added to the tax due can be imposed over and above criminal sentencing

It’s simply not worth it.