When you complain to the South African Revenue Service (SARS), they will issue an acknowledgment notification to you on the same day. SARS aims to resolve the complaint within 21 business days after it was logged. If you are still not satisfied with the outcome, you may follow the Tax Ombud process. You will receive an SMS or email notification at various stages of the process.
Types of complaints
The following is a list of the complaint categories. Please indicate the appropriate one when submitting your complaint:
| No | Category | Example |
| 1 | Legal/Policy | For example, the contact center is very slow to answer, or there is no parking at branch X. |
| 2 | For example, the contact centre is very slow to answer, or there is no parking at branch X. | For example, debit cards are not accepted for payments. |
| 3 | Channel experience/environment/technical issues | For example, agent X was rude, or the agent did not know how to assist me. |
| 4 | Quality and speed of service* | For example, incorrect resolution of request, or it took 6 months to process my banking detail change. |
| 5 | Unresolved service/operational matter* | Employee behavior/Competence |
| 6 | Missing or lost documentation* | For example, I have submitted my return, but SARS cannot find it. |
* You need a case number first for the last three categories. In other words, if your complaint relates to ‘Quality and speed of service’, ‘Unresolved service/operational matter’ or ‘Missing or lost documentation’, the complaint will only be accepted if there is already a case logged and the case number is inserted on the form. It can either be the original case number or a follow-up case number.
Before you lodge a complaint
Before you complain, you are requested to
- Engage the supervisor or manager at the point of contact to resolve your service issue with SARS.
- Call the SARS Contact Centre (0800 00 7277) if the matter has still not been resolved.
- Make sure you get a case number as you will need this case number if you want to go further and lodge a complaint.
Once you have exhausted all these processes you can now lodge a complaint.
What to expect after you complained
You will receive an SMS or email notification at various stages of the process:
- When you’ve logged your complaint, you will receive an acknowledgment notification the same day.
- The resolution date will be a maximum of 21 business days after the complaint was logged.
- If you are still not satisfied with the outcome, you may follow the Tax Ombud process.