Service quality framework for the South African Revenue Service from the perspective of the tax practitioner

Abstract

The objective of the present research was to propose a service quality framework regardingthe service quality of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) from the perspective of thetax practitioner. In order to develop the specific “lens of the tax practitioner” regardingthe service quality of SARS, an in-depth, qualitative approach was required to identify acomprehensive range of determinants that potentially drive service quality in the revenueservice industry and setting. One such qualitative method is the critical incident technique,which relies on a set of procedures to collect comments on service experiences, to performa content analysis and to classify the observations of service experiences. A process ofnatural language argument was used to convert the data analysis results and the relevantelements of the theory from the literature survey into the service determinants. This “lensof the tax practitioner” can be used as a basis for developing a service quality measuringinstrument that could measure the service quality of SARS from the perspective of the taxpractitioner.