| (1) | Every natural person who— |
| (a) | provides advice to another person with respect to the application of a tax Act; or |
| (b) | completes or assists in completing a document to be submitted to SARS by another person in terms of a tax Act, |
must —
| (i) | register with or fall under the jurisdiction of a ‘recognised controlling body’ by the later of 1 July 2013 or 21 business days after the date on which that person for the first time provides the advice or completes or assists in completing the return; and |
[Section 240(1)(b)(i) inserted by section 82(a) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2012 (Act No. 21 of 2012)]
| (ii) | register with SARS as a tax practitioner in the prescribed form and manner, within 21 business days after the date on which that person for the first time provides the advice or completes or assists in completing the return. |
[Section 240(1)(b)(ii) inserted by section 82(b) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2012 (Act No. 21 of 2012)]
| (2) | The provisions of this section do not apply in respect of a person who only— |
| (a) | provides the advice or completes or assists in completing a return for no consideration to that person or his or her employer or a connected person in relation to that employer or that person; |
| (b) | provides the advice in anticipation of or in the course of any litigation to which the Commissioner is a party or where the Commissioner is a complainant; |
| (c) | provides the advice as an incidental or subordinate part of providing goods or other services to another person; or; |
| (d) | provides the advice or completes or assists in completing a return— |
| (i) | to or in respect of the employer by whom that person is employed on a full-time basis or to or in respect of the employer and connected persons in relation to the employer; or |
| (ii) | under the supervision of a registered tax practitioner who has assigned or approved the assignment of those functions to the person. |
[Section 240(2) substituted by section 81(a) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2013 (Act No. 39 of 2012)]
| (2A) | A tax practitioner who has assigned or approved the assignment of functions to a person under subsection (2)(d)(ii) is regarded as accountable for the actions of that person in performing those functions for the purposes of a complaint to a recognised controlling body under section 241(2). |
[Section (2A) inserted by section 81(b) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2013 (Act No. 39 of 2012)]
| (3) | A person may not register as a tax practitioner under subsection (1) or SARS may deregister a registered tax practitioner if the person or the registered tax practitioner, as the case may be— |
| (a) | during the preceding five years has been removed from a related profession by a "controlling body" for serious misconduct; |
[Section 240(3)(a) substituted by section 82(e) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2012 (Act No. 21 of 2012)]
| (b) | during the preceding five years has been convicted (whether in the Republic or elsewhere) of— |
| (i) | theft, fraud, forgery or uttering a forged document, perjury or an offence under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004); or |
| (ii) | any other offence involving dishonesty, |
for which the person has been sentenced to a period of imprisonment exceeding two years without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding the amount prescribed in the Adjustment of Fines Act, 1991 (Act No. 101 of 1991);
| (c) | during the preceding five years has been convicted of a serious tax offence; or |
[Section 240(3)(c) inserted by section 60(b) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2014 (Act No. 44 of 2014)]
| (d) | during the preceding 12 months has for an aggregated period of at least six months not been tax compliance to the extent referred to in section 256(3) and has failed to— |
| (i) | demonstrate that he or she has been compliant for that period; or |
| (ii) | remedy the non-compliance, |
within the period specified in a notice by SARS
[Section 240(3)(d) inserted by section 24(c) of Notice No. 16, GG 42169, dated 17 January 2019 (Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2018 (Act No. 22 of 2018)]
| (4) | If the prosecution for a serious tax offence has been instituted but not finalised against a person or registered tax practitioner and if the person or registered tax practitioner continues with the commission of a serious tax offence after the criminal proceedings have been instituted, a senior SARS official may— |
| (a) | not register the person as a registered tax practitioner; or |
| (b) | suspend the registration of the registered tax practitioner, |
for the duration of the criminal proceedings commencing on the date that prosecution is instituted and ending on the date that the person or registered tax practitioner is finally acquitted.
[Section 240(4) inserted by section 60(c) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2014 (Act No. 44 of 2014)]
