By Akani Nkuna
Former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) CEO Lucky Montana has rubbished claims that he owes over R55 million to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for the period 2009-2019.
“I am at peace with myself and I know that I do not owe SARS a cent. Some may ask why risk everything by taking on the mighty SARS? There is no doubt that SARS is a powerful institution and a formidable opponent to take on. If you look at the network of attorneys representing SARS, [they] are just so powerful,” said Montana.
He said he would be suing SARS for R50 million in damages, and that the tax collector had severely inflated its bill.
“However, I am not afraid to take on the challenge. This is not about me, this is about the citizens of South Africa who have lost their houses, their vehicles and other assets they built over the years and worked so very hard for and these are taken away from them by SARS at the stroke of a pen.”
Montana was addressing the media on Monday at the OR International Airport when he made the statements.
He was replying to a briefing held by SARS on Saturday where it claimed Montana owed it the R55 million. SARS usually keeps taxpayer information strictly confidential, but said it had legally disclosed Montana’s tax history under the Tax Administration Act because he was accusing the entity of fraud.
Montana said SARS’s actions were nothing but a witch-hunt. He also characterised the Saturday press briefing as misleading, saying that the entity’s spokesperson intentionally misrepresented facts, particularly surrounding the R5.4 million “compromise offer”.
“It is therefore false that I went to SARS with a compromise offer [to settle R5.4 million of the R55 million]. Consistent with SARS’s conduct this is a misrepresentation of facts to the people of South Africa,” declared Montana.
SARS has highlighted transactions from Montana that include a R13.5 million property (which Montana did not pay for) and untraceable contracts for high end motor vehicles that the entity said it could not trace to his bank accounts.
“If you treat the cars differently…you deal with the issues about property, primary residence exclusion, you will see that I do not owe SARS. I was compromising to say we can even offer R5.4 million. It was generous,” Montana added.
During the weekend briefing, SARS said Montana had unlawfully evaded tax liability by under-declaring taxable income he received from various sources. It said it had, on numerous occasions, attempted to remedy the situation with Montana, in writing.
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