The scheme is immense in scale with just 2 companies claiming more than R24.4 billion between 2012 and March 2020 in allegedly fraudulent VAT refunds. The two companies appear to have scored illegitimate VAT refunds of over R8 billion in 2019 alone – roughly half a percent of SARS’ entire tax collection for the year.
The South African Revenue Service has conducted a wide-ranging confidential investigation into the second-hand gold industry and found what appears to be a staggering multibillion-rand tax fraud scheme.
