Major petrol station takes SARS to court over R2.7 billion tax bill

Astron Energy is going to court to challenge a R2.7 billion tax assessment from the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

This assessment is based off a customs and excise audit conducted by SARS between May 2015 and March 2017.

According to SARS, there were multiple compliance problems at Astron Energy (before Glencore took the company over), leading to the state tax organisation sending a letter of demand to Astron Energy in October 2019.

The letter stated that Astron owed R2,714,001,723.73 to SARS including interest and penalties.

This figure is based on claims that Astron did not pay enough excise duties and fuel levies. When it tried to cancel its debt by claiming refunds for overpaid tax amounts, SARS refused.

As a result, Astron is allegedly still required by SARS to pay the full amount – although Astron disagrees.

Astron claims that the tax bill is both legally and factually inaccurate, and insisted that SARS was unfair in refusing to pay back its refund claims.

Matter heads to court

Astron took the case to the Western Cape High Court, and asked it to either overturn’s SARS decision through a direct appeal, or set it aside through a judicial review.

SARS tried to stop the case in its tracks by filing exceptions – which claim Astron’s case is fundamentally defective and should be thrown out.

The exceptions – including claims that the court papers lacked key facts, were legally confused, and did not follow appropriate protocols – was rejected by Western Cape High Court Judge Moosa.

The matter will now go to trial, where two main things will be determined:

1. Whether Astron must pay the R2.7 billion.
2. Whether Astron’s refund claims were valid.

The full judgement can be viewed below.