Mel Viljoen Responds As SARS Serves Final Tax Demand Letter Amid Peet Viljoen’s Bail Hearing

• SARS handed Mel Viljoen a final demand letter in court, giving her 10 days to submit four years of personal tax returns
• The tax troubles follow a R14.1 million default judgment SARS issued against Peet Viljoen six months before the couple left for America
• Mel claimed SARS is targeting her personally, saying the letter made no mention of their Tammy Taylor business dealings

Mel Viljoen found herself blindsided in a Pretoria courtroom on Thursday when a South African Revenue Service official personally handed her a final demand letter, ordering her to file personal tax returns for the years 2022 through 2025 within 10 days.

The timing could not have been more dramatic. Mel was at the Commercial Crimes Court to support her husband, Peet, whose bail application was continuing that day. A SARS official entered the courtroom and initially took a seat beside her, before she realised who he was and quietly moved further away.

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Mel Viljoen responds after SARS serves her papers

Speaking to Netwerk24, Mel did not hold back.

"I am being targeted," she said, insisting the letter was directed solely at her as an individual.

She said the document contained no reference to the Tammy Taylor franchise business, of which she served as a director, and described SARS's approach as "intimidating and bullying."

This latest development is part of a string of legal and financial pressures that have followed the couple since their return to South Africa after spending time in the United States. Their tax difficulties had already been building for some time: SARS secured a default judgment of R14.1 million against Peet roughly six months before the couple departed for America in May 2025.

Peet Viljoen remains behind bars on 400 charges

Meanwhile, Briefly News reported that Peet has been held at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria for approximately six weeks.

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He faces 400 charges connected to the alleged theft of state property valued at R27 million, which prosecutors claim was sold through illegal means. He will know the outcome of his bail application when he returns to the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on19 August 2026.

Source: Briefly News