I was going through previous posts in the Tax Forum and I couldn't find anything related to Agent Appointment Implementation. It seems as if I'm the lucky one

Our company recently received a letter from SARS, Income Tax: Agent Appointment Implementation. SARS is appointing employers to act as agents to collect any outstanding administrative penalties due to SARS from taxpayers.

Apparently section 99 of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 allows SARS to appoint employers to act as an agent on its behalf.

We had an employee work for us for three months only from Nov 2009 - Jan 2010 on contract which after that he was employed permanently by our client.

Can SARS hold agents accountable for outstanding tax, even if the employee doesn't work for the company anymore?

If SARS can implement something like this, next thing the debt collectors are doing the same. I'd hate to receive letters from Edgars, etc of staff not paying their accounts...