According to the DA, the South African Airways (SAA) still fails to meet its tax obligations, even though it was one of the conditions when it received billions of rand from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in an effort to help the struggling airline.
The opposition party said in a statement on Tuesday that SAA still did not pay SARS the income tax deducted from its employees. The airline therefore violated the conditions set by the national treasury when it offered him billions as a lifeline.
According to the statement, this information was recently revealed in a report to Parliament’s appropriations committee.
DA MP Ashor Sarupen said in the statement that last year the National Treasury, in an effort to gain financial control over SAA, imposed the following condition to SAA in exchange for taxpayer support: “SAA must fulfill its tax obligations by taking care that tax deducted from employees is repaid to SARS within a required timeframe and is not withheld for other purposes. “
According to Sarupen, SAA did not comply with the condition and it is clear from the report that the airline’s business rescue practitioners withhold staff income tax to deal with SAA’s liquidity crisis.
“The business rescue practitioners and SAA are currently negotiating to postpone payments to SARS due to liquidity constraints. However, payments to the Revenue Service will be made as soon as the airline’s liquidity position improves, ”Sarupen explained.
Sarupen said this means that SAA employees are now in a position where their taxes have been deducted from their salaries, although they cannot be considered taxable. They are also likely to lose their jobs and income.
