Cape Town - SARS commissioner Tom Moyane has been suspended with immediate effect on Monday.
"I can confirm that the president has informed Mr Tom Moyane of his suspension with immediate effect," President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson Khusela Diko told News24.
This comes after the tax agency called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to fast-track the establishment of a commission into its leadership, as it lamented what it called an "ongoing media onslaught" focused on Moyane, Fin24 reported.
Ramaphosa had announced a commission of inquiry into SARS leadership during his State of the Nation Address in mid-February.
Moyane has been under the media spotlight recently for his role in handling millions of rands in VAT refunds to a Gupta-linked company via a third party.
Last week on Friday, SARS argued that Moyane had acted within the guidelines of tax law when handling VAT refunds to a Gupta-linked company.
This comes after the Daily Maverick reported that Moyane was involved in approving more than R70m in VAT refunds to Oakbay Investments, via third-party company Terbium Financial Services.
On Friday afternoon, the revenue service released a statement arguing that Moyane's actions had been consistent with the law, and the refund was above board.
SARS argued that Moyane did not decide whether the payments should be made or not, also denying that Moyane had ever instructed any SARS employee to deal with the Oakbay complaint in one way or another.