According to BusinessTech, SARS commissioner Johnstone Makhubu used the 13th Annual Tax Indaba to tell taxpayers, traders and tax practitioners that the service will move away from a purely numbers-driven approach and start treating relationships as a core part of its mandate.
The change matters most to small business owners who often face long queues and complex forms. Makhubu, who took over from Edward Kieswetter on 1 May 2026, said the new era will be judged not only by how much is collected but by how the tax authority treats the people it serves.
Under Kieswetter, SARS was rebuilt into a revenue-collecting powerhouse, delivering a record R2 trillion in tax receipts in the last financial year. The former commissioner’s strategy focused on making compliance easier while cracking down hard on avoidance, which earned the agency a reputation for being aggressive and unforgiving.
Makhubu’s statement makes clear that the record collection figure is not the only yardstick for success. He described revenue sustainability as “anchored in the trust, capability and service that make sustainable revenue possible” and warned that a licence to operate depends on public confidence.
Four priorities for the next phase
The commissioner outlined four pillars for what he called SARS Modernisation 3.0. The first pillar is an intelligent tax and customs platform that uses data, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up processing while keeping strong governance. The second pillar targets modernising VAT, customs and excise processes, which should reduce paperwork for traders. The third pillar focuses on case-management improvements and digital identity verification, aiming to give taxpayers clearer status updates. The final pillar stresses that technology will complement, not replace, human staff, preserving the personal contact that many small firms value.
For a small retailer, the promised faster resolution of legitimate issues could mean fewer lost sales while waiting for refunds or adjustments. Clearer processes and a more collaborative stance from tax practitioners may also lower the cost of compliance, which has traditionally been a hidden expense for many SMEs.
However, Makhubu also acknowledged that the shift will take time. The commissioner’s remarks are a forward-looking vision; the actual impact will depend on how quickly the new systems are rolled out and whether staff adopt the softer tone in day-to-day interactions.
In short, the tax authority is signalling that it wants to be seen as a partner rather than a pursuer. If the promised changes materialise, South African businesses could see a smoother tax experience, but the road from rhetoric to routine remains to be travelled.
What “relationship-focused” looks like in practice is already sitting in SARS’s own rulebook, most small businesses just don’t claim it: two SARS incentives most small businesses never claim, and what they are actually worth in 2026, published the same day this statement was made, is a concrete test of whether Makhubu’s promised shift from a purely numbers-driven approach reaches the average SME before the next Tax Indaba comes around.
The gap between rhetoric and routine that Makhubu himself acknowledged is exactly where those unclaimed incentives sit: a relationship-focused tax authority, in practice, is one where a taxpayer or their accountant actually knows an incentive exists and how to apply for it, rather than discovering it only after an audit or a chance conversation with a practitioner. Four pillars of digital modernisation will not close that awareness gap on their own if the underlying rules and eligibility criteria remain as opaque to the average small business owner as they are today.
Kieswetter’s own tenure is the benchmark Makhubu now has to be measured against, and it is a demanding one: a record R2 trillion collected in a single financial year is not a number a successor can simply match by being friendlier. The real test of SARS Modernisation 3.0 is whether collection efficiency and a genuinely better taxpayer experience can rise together, rather than the service quietly trading one for the other once the cameras from the Tax Indaba are gone.
