Windfall from two-pot withdrawals not enough to plug tax revenue collection shortfall - SARS

JOHANNESBURG - Tax revenue collection for the current financial year is expected to fall short of expectations despite some windfall from the two-pot withdrawals.

The two-pot retirement system was implemented in Septemeber, giving consumers early access to a portion of their pension funds.

In less than two months of its rollout, more than R21 billion in funds had been cashed out.

Government also earned at least R7 billion in taxes from the two-pot system.

But SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said it was still not enough to plug the gap caused by disappointing personal income taxes and import VAT.

"We don’t believe that the income tax revenue from the withdrawals will be enough to replace the losses that we have seen because of economic performance."