The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the nation’s tax collecting authority. Its strategic objectives are:
Provide clarity and certainty for taxpayers and traders of their obligations.
Make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations.
Detect taxpayers and traders who do not comply, making non-compliance hard and costly.
Develop a high-performing, diverse, agile, engaged, and evolved workforce.
Increase and expand the use of data within a comprehensive knowledge management framework.
Modernise systems to provide digital and streamlined online services.
Demonstrate effective stewardship of resources to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of quality outcomes and performance excellence.
Work with and through stakeholders to improve the tax ecosystem.
Build public trust and confidence in the tax administration system.
In addition, SARS aims to maximize revenue yield, promote domestic and foreign trade, enroll new tax contributors through awareness programs, and provide exceptional services to the public. It is guided by principles such as uncompromising regard for taxpayer confidentiality, unquestionable integrity, professionalism, fairness, exemplary public service, and incontestable insights from data & evidence.