Sasfin pushes back on R4.9bn SARS claim for tax-dodging clients

Sasfin says it was not the primary bank for any of its former clients whose allegedly unpaid taxes prompted the SA Revenue Service (SARS) to slap it with a damages claim that is more than nine times its approximately R530 million market value.

The banking and wealth management group announced on 27 February that SARS had issued it with a summons in early January for almost R4.9 billion in damages, plus interest and costs, due to the failure of some former clients to make true and accurate tax disclosures.

SARS alleges these taxpayers colluded to transfer money offshore in a manner that made the expatriated funds hard to trace, jeopardising its ability to collect tax.