18.    Review of complaint

 

(1)     The Tax Ombud may review any issue within the Tax Ombud’s mandate on receipt of a request from a taxpayer.

 

(2)     The Tax Ombud may-

 

(a)     determine how a review is to be conducted; and

 

(b)     determine whether a review should be terminated before completion.

 

(3)     In exercising the discretion set out in subsection (2), the Tax Ombud must consider such factors as-

 

(a)     the age of the request or issue;

 

(b)     the amount of time that has elapsed since the requester became aware of the issue;

 

(c)     the nature and seriousness of the issue;

 

(d)     the question of whether the request was made in good faith; and

 

(e)     the findings of other redress mechanisms with respect to the request.

 

(4)     The Tax Ombud may only review a request if the requester has exhausted the available complaints resolution mechanisms in SARS, unless there are compelling circumstances for not doing so.

 

(5)     To determine whether there are compelling circumstances, the Tax Ombud must consider factors such as whether-

 

(a)     the request raises systemic issues;

 

(b)     exhausting the complaints resolution mechanisms will cause undue hardship to the requester; or

 

(c)     exhausting the complaints resolution mechanisms is unlikely to produce a result within a period of time that the Tax Ombud considers reasonable.

 

(6)     The Tax Ombud must inform the requester of the results of the review or any action taken in response to the request, but at the time and in the manner chosen by the Tax Ombud.