SARS lodges R931m claim against MTI
SARS has lodged a claim for R931.1m against Mirror Trading International (MTI), the collapsed bitcoin investment scheme, reports Moneyweb.
The claim was lodged earlier this month with the Master of the Cape High Court in respect of the 2019 and 2020 tax years.
SARS blames the company officers and liquidators for not submitting the relevant income tax returns. This was after the liquidators provided SARS with the raw data from MTI systems and figures from forensic auditors.
SARS says it relied on these figures to finalise its audit and to adjust the taxable income.
The revenue service says it reserves the right to revise its assessments should the received figures change or additional bitcoin be recovered.
Of the R931.1m claimed by SARS, roughly R350m is for normal income tax, R580m is for under-statement penalties, and R1m is for interest.
SARS says the amount is due and payable immediately, though MTI can dispute it later.
In its filing, SARS says it only received income information from the liquidators on 14 February, adding that it failed to declare income of R182.5m for the 2020 year of assessment and R6.7bn for 2021.
MTI was placed in final liquidation in June 2021.
CEO Johann Steynberg fled SA for Brazil, where he was arrested in December last year and is awaiting extradition to SA.
SARS says it is a preferential creditor of MTI in terms of the Insolvency Act.
The liquidators can object to the SARS assessment, but may not disburse any recovered proceeds until such time as the SARS claim has been settled.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
