IITPSA welcomes SARS moves to harness big data and AI for tax collection

The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) has welcomed the plans by the South African Revenue Service to use big data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve revenue collection and locate tax evaders. IITPSA Board member Moira de Roche says the move is welcome, if overdue. "It should have been done years ago. The more efficiently SARS collects tax that is due, the better off we will be as a country. It has been relatively easy for people to dodge tax before now, so it is a move in the right direction to start using all the data that exists across various government departments and deploying AI to identify trends and potential fraud."