SARS Service Failures: Practical Strategies for Effective Complaints and Escalation to the Tax Ombud

Date: Sep 8, 2026

CPD hours: 1 Hour

Time: 13:30 - 14:30

Event Type: Webinar

Learn how to navigate SARS complaints effectively, understand your taxpayer rights, use internal SARS remedies, and know when to escalate matters to the Office of the Tax Ombud. Gain practical insights into managing complaints and seeking fair, timely resolutions.

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Overview

Prolonged SARS verifications, delayed refunds, unresolved service requests, poor communication and officials who could not be reached rated amongst the top three significant concerns affecting tax practitioners.

The 2025 Tax Practice Insights survey recorded that this administrative load consumed billable hours daily, in practices that were mostly ten people or fewer and that carried a material compliance burden on thin profit margins.

Most practitioners knew that the Office of the Tax Ombud existed as an independent avenue of recourse. Considerably fewer could answer the practical question on which the recovery of those hours depended: at what point a SARS service failure became an Ombud complaint, what had to be exhausted before that point, and what distinguished a submission the Office accepted and acted on from one that was delayed or rejected.

Webinar Content

Part 1: Complaint, Query or Dispute? Identifying the Correct Route

How to identify the correct route at the outset.
The common mistakes that delayed resolution.
When an objection or appeal was the appropriate remedy rather than a complaint.

Part 2: The Engagement Record, and What Had to Be Exhausted First

The internal SARS escalation channels, and the order in which they were used.
Building the record of SARS engagements as routine practice rather than a reconstruction exercise.
What the Office of the Tax Ombud expected to see attempted before it would consider a matter.

Part 3: What Made a Strong Complaint to the Tax Ombud

The documents and evidence that should accompany a complaint.
Structuring a clear complaint chronology.
The common reasons complaints were delayed or rejected.
Defining a realistic and achievable desired outcome.

Part 4: Case Studies and Lessons Learnt

Delayed refund complaints.
Procedural fairness complaints.
Examples of effective complaint submissions.
Trends emerging from taxpayer complaints, and the lessons they carried for practice.

Part 5: Presenting a Complaint Persuasively

Presenting facts persuasively and professionally.
Separating the complaint issue from the tax dispute.
Avoiding undifferentiated document bundles.
Managing a complaint from submission to resolution.

Part 6: The Practice View — Delegation, Cost and Recovery

Which parts of complaint handling could properly be delegated to junior staff, and what that work developed in them.
Assessing when escalation was worth the hours it would take.
Whether and how that time was recovered.

Q&A and open discussion

Competencies Developed

On completion of this webinar, practitioners were equipped to:

Distinguish a service complaint from a query and from a dispute, and identify the correct route at the outset, including when an objection was the proper remedy.
Identify what the Office of the Tax Ombud required of a complaint: qualifying circumstances, the document set, the chronology, and why complaints were rejected.
Describe the internal SARS escalation channels to be exhausted before the Office of the Tax Ombud would consider a matter, and the record that evidenced them.
Recognise the engagement record that made a complaint inexpensive to assemble, and how it was maintained as routine rather than reconstructed under pressure.
Identify how a complaint was presented persuasively: a defined desired outcome, the service issue separated from the tax dispute, and evidence rather than a document dump.

Presenters

Frik Pretorius

Senior Manager: Legal Support Services

With over 30 years of experience in the legal and tax sectors, Pretorius, an admitted Attorney has built a distinguished career. Starting in private practice in 1993, he joined the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 1999 as an Attorney. By 2006, he became the Legal Specialist for Gauteng South, where he was instrumental in establishing the Alternative Dispute Resolution process.

In 2018, Pretorius joined the Office of the Tax Ombud (OTO) as a Specialist in Legal Services. He provides comprehensive legal services across the organisation and is an active member of the Operations Complaints Evaluation Committee and Dispute Resolution processes.

Pretorius holds a B-Proc from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, a Higher Diploma in Corporate Law from Rand Afrikaans University, a Higher Diploma in Insolvency Law from the University of Johannesburg, qualified LEAD Auditor (Cum Laude) and a Diploma in Dispute Resolution from Conflict Dynamics SA. He is also a panellist for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Yolisa Dyasi

Yolisa is a seasoned Tax Specialist and registered General Tax Practitioner (SA) with extensive experience at SARS, the Office of the Tax Ombud, and in private practice. She holds a B.Com Honours in Taxation from the University of Johannesburg and currently serves as National Tax Manager for one of South Africa’s largest property management companies, overseeing tax compliance for over 2,500 commercial clients. Yolisa is a respected authority in Tax Administration, known for her strong stakeholder engagement and dispute resolution skills. She regularly contributes to tax education through webinars, publications, and media appearances.