RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PUBLIC OFFICER
Section 246 of the Tax Administration Act No 28 of 2011 requires that every company carrying on business or having an office in South Africa must at all times be represented by an individual residing in South Africa.
Who can be a Public Officer?
The individual representative must be approved by SARS and must be a person who is a senior official of the company. If no senior official resides in South Africa, the individual representative may be another suitable person appointed by the company.
The individual representative must be called the Public Officer of the company and must be appointed within one month after the company begins to carry on business or acquires an office in the Republic.
If a Public Officer is not appointed as stated above, the Public Officer is the director, company secretary or other officer of the company that SARS designates for that purpose.
Responsibilities of a Public Officer
A Public Officer is responsible for all acts, matters, or things that the company must do under a Tax Act, and in case of default, the Public Officer is subject to penalties for the company’s defaults.
A Company is regarded as having done everything once completed by the Public Officer in the Officer’s representative capacity.
How to appoint a Public Officer
A resolution needs to be passed conferring the required person to sign returns, objections, appeals, to take legal notices, and generally to represent the company. The resolution needs to be signed by all Directors / Members of the company and the Trustees of a Trust.
The appointed Public Officer needs to sign an acceptance of his/her appointment letter.
The signed resolution and acceptance letter needs to be submitted to SARS, together with the following documentation:
- Company/Trust/organisation registration documentation
- 3 months originally stamped bank statements of the Company/Trust/organisation
- Proof of address of the Company/Trust/organisation
- Proof of address of the Public Officer
- Originally certified copies of all Directors/ Members/Trustees, and the Public Officer’s identity documents.