The number might be right, but when SARS asks you to prove it,
most tax teams find out the evidence isn't where they thought it was.
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA)
Co-founder and Director, vanbain Tax
More than 25 years of experience across SARS, Big Four advisory and in-house tax leadership, including senior roles at SARS and tax leadership positions at Standard Bank and Liberty.
Meet the expert
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA)
Co-founder and Director, vanbain Tax
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA), is the Co-founder and Director of vanbain Tax, with more than 25 years of experience spanning SARS, Big Four advisory, and in-house tax leadership. Her career includes senior roles within SARS itself, giving her a first-hand view of how the revenue authority approaches verification, audit, and dispute resolution.
She has also held tax leadership positions at Standard Bank and Liberty, where she was responsible for corporate tax strategy, compliance, and governance across large, multi-entity financial services groups. That combination of regulator, advisor, and in-house leader shapes her practical, evidence-led approach to what actually holds up when SARS asks the question.
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA)
Co-founder and Director, vanbain Tax
More than 25 years of experience across SARS, Big Four advisory and in-house tax leadership, including senior roles at SARS and tax leadership positions at Standard Bank and Liberty.
Meet the expert
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA)
Co-founder and Director, vanbain Tax
Tracy Potgieter, CA(SA), is the Co-founder and Director of vanbain Tax, with more than 25 years of experience spanning SARS, Big Four advisory, and in-house tax leadership. Her career includes senior roles within SARS itself, giving her a first-hand view of how the revenue authority approaches verification, audit, and dispute resolution.
She has also held tax leadership positions at Standard Bank and Liberty, where she was responsible for corporate tax strategy, compliance, and governance across large, multi-entity financial services groups. That combination of regulator, advisor, and in-house leader shapes her practical, evidence-led approach to what actually holds up when SARS asks the question.
Go behind the scenes of a SARS verification request and explore what happens when tax teams need to find, validate and bring together the right information under pressure. From fragmented data to manual processes, discover where readiness can make all the difference.
This episode goes deeper into the data, controls, workflow, technology and AI architecture behind an audit-ready tax function and how it fits alongside existing ERP, adviser and tax tools, without a wholesale replacement.
"Tax is still seen as something you do once a year. It starts on day one, not on day 365.”
Here's what happens in the hours and days that follow.
Receives the request and starts looking for the answer.
Gets pulled in to locate numbers, calculations and supporting data.
Gets asked for information that may sit across different teams.
Gets pulled together, reconstructed and checked under pressure.
fluid talk Episode 1 goes inside that moment, uncovering where the pressure points emerge, why seemingly simple requests can become complex exercises, and what it takes to be ready before SARS asks.
Two perspectives, one conversation about what it takes to be ready before SARS asks.
Co-founder and Director, vanbain Tax
More than 25 years of tax experience spanning Big Four advisory, banking, insurance and SARS, including partnership roles at KPMG and EY, a senior tax role at Standard Bank, Head of Tax at Liberty, and senior SARS roles across risk profiling and head corporate tax policy unit.
Founder & CEO, fluid
A tax automation and data architecture specialist with more than 15 years’ experience in financial technology and SaaS, focused on helping tax teams move from fragmented processes to structured, auditable systems.
How third-party data, analytics and automated checks are changing the timing and nature of tax scrutiny.
What happens inside an organisation when the data, calculations and evidence live across different teams and systems, and nowhere in particular.
What makes a response clear, timely, traceable, and easy for the regulator to follow, instead of one that invites more questions.
The real cost of fragmented tax data: resourcing, disruption, penalties, interest, and reputational exposure.
How governed data, reconciliation, evidence and workflow come together, without ripping out your existing systems.
Build a clearer view of the data, evidence and processes behind your tax position, so when SARS asks the question, your organisation is ready with the answer.
