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By Janine du Plessis
Marabastad - an apparent hub of counterfeit goods and unregistered small businesses - was dealt a blow by South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials who wanted to ensure many of the businesses took advantage of its offer of tax amnesty before May 1.
More than 200 applications for amnesty were received and 33 warnings were issued in respect of counterfeit goods when several large teams of Sars customs officials, the Department of Trade and Industry, SAPS, Tshwane Metro Police and Home Affairs descended on the small businesses checking for tax registrations and trading licences.
Over 170 businesses at the Ganie Centre, 200 shops in Boom Street, 70 at Belle Ombre Plaza and 60 businesses in the hawkers centre in Bazaar Street were targeted. These specific areas had been identified by a special Sars unit as a concentration of non-compliant businesses
Businesses were able to register with Sars officials if they could not provide their paperwork on the spot.
While some owners fled their stores, abandoning their merchandise, some tried to close up shop fearing they would be fined or arrested. Many, however, admitted they were unregistered traders and spoke with the officials who advised them accordingly.
Sars official Kenneth Fitoyi said: "The raids are going to take place over two days because of the volume of shops in the area.
He said that during the interdepartmental operation Home Affairs were looking for illegal immigrants, Metro Police were looking at trading licences, health and safety inspectors were checking shops and even lawyers representing certain brands and labels were there to lay complaints against traders dealing in fake items.
The tax amnesty deadline was May 31 and they were urging people to come forward. "Though we have had a number of awareness campaigns, we are taking sterner action against businesses as the deadline approaches.
"We will be throwing the book at anyone who is non compliant from June 1," Fitoyi said.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on April 03, 2007
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