Individual Corruption

Afrobarometer 2008 illustrates that nearly one-third of the surveyed households believed that some tax officers are involved in corruption. However, only a very small percentage of the households who had contact with tax revenue services in 2009 reported to have paid a bribe, as illustrated in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2010.

Business Corruption

Companies frequently interact with tax officials when they conduct inspections of plants. In many countries, these inspection visits form a market for corruption. However, according to the World Bank & IFC Enterprise Surveys 2007, this is not a major issue in South Africa compared to many other African countries. Although paying taxes can be rather time-consuming, companies do not consider tax officials to be very corrupt. According to Global Integrity 2010, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has low levels of corruption, and tax laws are in practice, enforced uniformly and without discrimination. Furthermore, the SARS operates a 24-hour Fraud and Anti-Corruption Hotline (0800 00 28 70) to which companies can report corruption related to tax administration.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- A medium-sized company operating in South Africa must on average make 9 payments to the tax authorities every year and spend 200 hours preparing, filing, and paying taxes at a total tax rate of a little over 33% of profits.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 4% of households who have had contact with tax revenue services in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

Afrobarometer: Summary of Results South Africa 2008:
- 32% of respondents believe that some of the SARS officials are involved in corruption.

- 21% of respondents believe that most of the SARS officials are involved in corruption.

- 8% of respondents believe that all of the SARS officials are involved in corruption.

Transparency International: Bribe Payers Index 2008:
- Business executives give tax revenue authorities a score of 2 on a 5-point scale (1 being 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt').

The World Bank & IFC: Enterprise Surveys 2007:
- 3.1% of companies report that they are expected to give gifts when meeting with tax inspectors. This is among the lowest rates in the region.