Accountant admits to falsifying tax return, fined in Kimberley court

A Kimberley accountant, Jason Ndlovu, was sentenced to a R100,000 fine or four years imprisonment in the Special Commercial Crimes Court in Kimberley on August 27.

He pleaded guilty to one count of contravening the Tax Administration Act for submitting a false Company Income Tax return to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for the 2016 financial year, whereby a nil income was declared on behalf of Moyahi and Associates closed corporation (CC).

Charges were provisionally withdrawn against Moyahi and Associates CC and its sole member Winston Lucky Moyahi.

This is while the entity did indeed conduct business, where SARS suffered a prejudice of R776,585.32. The company declared R1.00 for its Corporate Income Tax Returns (lTR14) for the 2016 tax period and nil for the Corporate Income Tax return for the 2017 financial year. 

The purpose of the submission of this false return was for Moyahi and Associates CC to become tax compliant.

In his plea agreement Ndlovu explained that he had not acted out of malice, deceit or for personal gain but “purely to help” Moyahi to secure critical payments in order to “unlock his tax status” as he was awaiting payment from government departments and could not be paid unless he was in possession of a tax clearance certificate. 

He indicated that he assisted Moyahi and Associates CC as it had outstanding tax returns and a VAT liability of R2.4 million.

He added that he did not receive any compensation for the work done and was assisted by Moyahi when he needed to purchase new tyres.

Ndlovu maintained that the Tax Administration Act permitted a taxpayer to correct any errors or omissions to reflect the true and accurate tax liability. He indicated that the premature criminal prosecution against him had harmed his professional reputation and caused him financial hardship. 

The Criminal Investigations Unit of the SARS in Kimberley conducted the investigation. Advocate Tebogo Moheta of the Specialised Tax Unit was the prosecutor and magistrate Vernon Smith presided over this matter.

The accused were represented by Chwaro Kgotlagomang and Herholdt Robertson.

The provincial head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations Major General Steven Mabuela congratulated the investigating and prosecution team for their sterling work.