1.1. In these terms and conditions, unless the content indicates otherwise, a term assigned a meaning in the rules, has a meaning so assigned and the following terms have the following meaning –

1.1.1. “data message” has the meaning assigned in the Rules;

1.1.2. “Electronic Communications and Transactions Act” means the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002);

1.1.3. “home page” has the meaning assigned in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act;

1.1.4. “Rules” means the rules for electronic communication prescribed under section 255(1) of the Tax Administration Act;

1.1.5. “SARS” means the South African Revenue Service;

1.1.6. “SARS website” means the home page and web pages accessible here or any part thereof;

1.1.7. “tax Act” has the meaning assigned in the Tax Administration Act;

1.1.8. “Tax Administration Act” means the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No. 28 of 2011);

1.1.9. “taxpayer” has the meaning assigned in the Tax Administration Act;

1.1.10. “Terms and Conditions” means these terms and conditions;

1.1.11. “User” means any person who enters or uses the SARS website, notwithstanding the fact that such a person only visited the home page of the SARS website; and

1.1.12. “webpage” has the meaning assigned in the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

 

1.2. References herein to –

 

1.2.1. any gender includes the other genders;

1.2.2. a person includes a natural or juristic person; and

1.2.3. the singular includes the plural and vice versa.

The SARS website provides information, guidelines, and services relating to revenue and customs tax affairs.

All intellectual property rights in and to the SARS website and all technology, material, content, and services made available on and through the site are the property of or licensed to SARS and as such, protected from infringement by both domestic and international law. In this regard, the User undertakes –

3.1. not to do anything that may infringe any person’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to –

3.1.1. reverse engineering, decompiling, dissembling or otherwise attempting to discover the source codes of any of the technology ; and

3.1.2. the unauthorised copying, reproduction, retransmission, distribution, dissemination, sale, publication, or other circulation or exploitation of such technology, material, content, and services;

3.2. to comply with all laws applicable to any intellectual property rights (including without limitation trade secrets, copyright, trademarks, registered designs, patents and domain name usage); and

3.3. not to use the trade name “SARS” as an element of a domain name or sub domain name, notwithstanding the fact that its use or registration may be allowed in terms of trademark or constitutional law. Upon request to do so, a User shall immediately cease to use such domain name and transfer it to SARS at the cost of the User.

4.1. SARS hereby grants the User the right to view, download, and print the material and content and to use the services made available on and through the SARS website in accordance with the Rules and these Terms and Conditions, provided that such material, content, and serves are used for personal, educational, or non-commercial purposes only. No further reproduction or any form of distribution of the material and content is allowed.

4.2. Material, content, and services made available on and through the SARS website shall not be used or exploited by Users for any commercial and non-private purposes without the prior written consent of SARS.

4.3. The caching of the material and content made available on and through the SARS website shall only be allowed if –

4.3.1. the purpose of the caching is to make the onward transmission of the material and content more efficient;

4.3.2. the cached material and content is not modified in any manner whatsoever;

4.3.3. the cached material and content is updated at least every 12 (twelve) hours; and

4.3.4. the cached material and content is removed or updated when so required by SARS.

4.4. If any User uses the material, content, and services made available on and through the SARS website in breach of the provisions detailed herein, SARS reserved the right to take whatever action it deems necessary to protect the proprietary and other interest in and to such website, material, and content.

4.5. Hyperlinks to –

4.5.1. the SARS website from any other source shall be directed at the home page of the SARS website.

4.5.2. third party sites, contained on the SARS website or within material, content, or services made available by and through the site, are not controlled by SARS  and such links do not imply any endorsement of, agreement with, or support for such sites or their content.

4.6. SARS shall not be liable, in any manner whatsoever, for any damage, loss, or liability that resulted from the use of a hyperlink –

4.6.1. not directed at the home page of the SARS website; or

4.6.2. to a third party website made available by and through the SARS website.

4.7. Users may quote small and reasonable amounts of material and content made available on and through the SARS website only if such material and content is correctly quoted, placed in inverted commas, and attributed to SARS.

4.8. Without the prior written consent of SARS, no person may –

4.8.1. frame the SARS website. (Definition of frame: A technique used to divide a web page into different parts such as a menu and separate content.)

4.8.2. apart from the use of bona-fide search engine operators and the search facility provided on the SARS website, use or attempt to use any technology or applications (including web crawlers or web spiders) to search or copy the SARS website or material, content, or services made available on or through it.

5.1. In consideration of Rule 4, SARS may –

5.1.1. discontinue a feature or change a feature, material, content, or a service available on and through the SARS website; or

5.1.2. upon reasonable notice, change the technology required to access and use the SARS website.

5.2. Notwithstanding the forgoing, it is the responsibility of the User to acquire and maintain, at their own expense, the technology (including computer hardware, systems, information security, software, telecommunications lines, and accounts) to access the SARS website and to download material, content, and services from the website if required.

6.1. “Taxpayer information” is defined and protected by Chapter 6 of the Tax Administration Act and all such information collected, collated, or stored as a result of the use of the SARS website shall only be used in accordance with Chapter 6.

6.2. Other than set out above, SARS shall only collect, store, and use information about Users for the purposes of service enhancement such as –

6.2.1. communicating requested information to the User;

6.2.2. providing the User with access to restricted pages on this website (e.g. for eFiling purposes); or

6.2.3. to compile non-personal statistical information about browsing habits, click-patterns and access to the SARS website, which is collected either electronically by using cookies or is provided voluntarily by the User. Users may determine cookie use independently through their browser settings.

 

6.3. Any User who obtains information about another person or other information that they reasonably believe is not intended for them, must, in accordance with Rule8(2) –

6.3.1. contact the SARS call centre immediately to disclose this fact and the circumstances under which the information was obtained;

6.3.2. follow any process that SARS prescribes to remove or destroy the information; and

6.3.3. not disclose the information to any other person in any matter whatsoever, or retain the information in any form.

7.1. In accordance with rule 8(1), SARS reserves the right to take whatever action it deems necessary, including without limitation, criminal prosecution and the right to claim damages, to preserve the security of its data and the security and reliable operation of its information systems. Full details of the SARS eFiling website’s security features are available here.

7.2. In addition to criminal prosecution, any person who is responsible for a security failure or breach, shall be liable for all resulting damages, loss, or liability suffered or incurred by SARS or any third party. The User hereby indemnifies and holds SARS harmless against all claims, losses and damages arising from a failure or breach caused, whether intentionally or negligently, by the User.

8.1. Although SARS shall take all reasonable steps to ensure availability, quality, and accuracy, the SARS website, its technology, and the material, content, and services available on and through it are supplied without warranties or guarantees, including that it shall in all cases be true, correct, or free from any errors or that it shall be available at all times.

8.2. To the extent permitted by law, SARS (including its employees, suppliers, service providers, partners, affiliates, and agents) shall not be liable for any damage, loss, or liability resulting from the use of or inability to use the SARS website or the technology, material, content, or services made available on and through it (including that of the eFiling service). The unavailability of the SARS website does not exempt a taxpayer from their liability under a tax Act and they must, during the period of unavailability limit their potential risk by making use of alternative methods to meet their tax commitments.

8.3. The SARS website and the technology, material, content, and services available on and through it is supplied on an “as is” basis, and has not been compiled to meet the User’s individual requirements. It is the responsibility of the User to satisfy themselves that the website meets their individual requirements and is compatible with their own technology.

8.4. Information, ideas, and opinions expressed on and through the SARS website do not constitute professional advice, or, in all cases, the official opinion of SARS. Users are encouraged to obtain their own professional advice before taking any course of action related to such information, ideas, or opinions.

Users are encouraged to report untrue, inaccurate, defamatory, illegal, infringing or harmful content available on and through the SARS website to SARS and SARS undertakes to correct or remove such content or any part thereof where SARS determines that it to be inappropriate.

The User acknowledges that SARS or a third party network operator may, under the circumstances prescribed in the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act, 2002 (Act No. 70 of 2002), be required to intercept communications or to provide archived or real-time communication-related information about such communications.

11.1. These Terms and Conditions are displayed on the SARS website together with their effective date. If required, SARS may upon reasonable notice, change them and Users shall be bound by the Terms and Conditions in effect at the time that such User last accessed the SARS website.

11.2. The Rules, these Terms and Conditions, and the notices, hyperlinked in these Terms and Conditions  constitute the entire agreement between SARS and the User and takes precedent over any prior or implied agreements, whether oral or in writing relating to the subject matter hereof. The fact that some or all of the hyperlinks may be non-operational shall not play a role in determining the validity or affect the interpretation of the agreement.

11.3. This agreement is concluded in Pretoria (Republic of South Africa) and, in the event of judicial proceedings, the User consents to the jurisdiction of a competent Court in this area.

11.4. No representations, warranties, changes, discharges, promises, or the like, not recorded herein shall be invalid unless reduced to writing and signed by an authorised representative of both parties.

11.5. Any failure by SARS to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms and Conditions or any indulgence that SARS may grant, shall in no way constitute a waiver of such right or provision and SARS shall not thereby be precluded from exercising any rights which may have arisen in the past or which might arise in the future.

11.6. In the event that any term or condition detailed herein is found unenforceable or invalid for any reason, such term(s) or condition(s) shall be severable from the remaining terms and conditions and the remaining terms and conditions shall remain enforceable and applicable.

The SARS website is hosted, controlled, and operated from the Republic of South Africa and therefore the laws of the Republic of South African , including the Rules, governs the SARS website, these Terms and Conditions, and all matters arising therefrom or in connection therewith.

SARS shall not be liable for costs incurred by Users to obtain professional advice relating to the Rules or these Terms and Conditions.

The following information is disclosed by SARS in the interest of facilitating and enhancing the User’s access to and use of the SARS website:

14.1. The full name and legal status of the website owner: South African Revenue Services (SARS), an organ of State for the Republic of South Africa, established in terms of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997 (Act No. 34 of 1997)

14.2. Street address is available on Contact Us>Head Office page on the SARS website.

14.3. Postal address is available on Contact Us>Head Office page on the SARS website.

14.4. Physical address for receipt of legal service: 299 Bronkhorst Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, 0181, South Africa.

14.5. Main business: Collection of revenue in terms of South African legislation.

14.6. The website address of the SARS website is: http://www.sars.gov.za 

14.7. The official e-mail addresses of the SARS website is: webmaster@sars.gov.za.

14.8. The Manual published in terms of section 14 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) is available on All Publications>About SARS page.

14.9. Management: See All Publications>About SARS page on the SARS website.

14.10. The costs associated with the access and use of the SARS website: Free of charge.

Users may lodge complaints concerning the SARS website via webmaster@sars.gov.za or with the SARS Call Centre on 0860 12 12 14.