Guptas' taxable income claims raise eyebrows

In spite of their lavish lifestyle, the three Gupta brothers claimed they each earned R1m or less a year, according to a Scorpio and amaBhungane report carried on the Daily Maverick site. It says SARS documents from the #GuptaLeaks e-mail trove show that for three years in a row – 2011, 2012 and 2013 – Ajay, Atul and Rajesh (Tony) Gupta declared taxable income which rarely exceeded R1m a year, on which they paid PAYE and nothing further. The report says that in 2011, for instance, Rajesh Gupta declared R965 000 in taxable income, with R315 670 going to PAYE. In 2012, Ajay Gupta declared R935 000, of which R299 196 was taxed. In 2013, Atul Gupta declared R1 087 616, of which R376 186 went to PAYE. Three years later, Atul Gupta would be placed seventh on the Sunday Times Rich List, named as SA’s richest black businessman, the report states. A tax expert who reportedly spoke to Scorpio on condition of anonymity said that the relatively small amounts of declared personal income were impossible to square with media reports of the Guptas’ lifestyles. The report notes that given the volume of highly public information available about the Guptas, red flags should have been raised at SARS about the amounts they were declaring in taxable income. Scorpio says when asked if the Guptas were ever subjected to a lifestyle audit by SARS, the revenue service’s spokesperson Sandile Memela responded via e-mail: ‘In line with the spirit and letter of the tax legislation… SARS cannot divulge specific information and details on the affairs of taxpayers.’