Good day fellow accountants ,etc.

I am a accounting tech and tax technician.

Due to me starting out small and not having many clients i need the correct info on the following senario:

1) We have submitted VAT returns for 3 periods. 2 of which were VAT refunds.

Questions

1) I have uploaded the verification documents on efiling, as i read that it could be done this way. It was only bank charges and 1 or 2 invoices. So i didn't see fit to go all the way to a SARS branch just to submit those documents if i could upload them to Efiling. Was this the correct choice and how long will SARS take ? Till now its been about 10 days since upload and the refund manager shows that they still busy with verification.

2) Can the refunds be allocated to the outstanding amounts owed to SARS ? The client payed a portion and what was left was the same amount as the Refund amount. for the current year but the previous year refund makes the refunds more than the owed amount. Now sars is putting interest on owed amount ,but the refunds are biger in value than owed amount is this correct?


Thanks in advance guys