What’s New at SARS

16 October 2026 – The Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list was updated.

• Tariff subheading 2530.90 is not subject to ITAC export control measures.

16 October 2026 – Rules of the National Assembly

• Publication of Explanatory Summary of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2026

The Minister intends to introduce the following Bill in the National Assembly in the near future.

16 October 2026 – The Guide for Provisional Tax has been updated as follows:

1. In terms of paragraph 19(3), a provisional taxpayer may be asked to justify any estimate made or to furnish full particulars of income, expenditure and/or any other particulars that may be required.
   1. If SARS is not satisfied with the response, the estimate may be increased to an amount which is considered reasonable.
   2. This increase in the estimate by SARS is not subject to objection and appeal.
2. SARS will issue a paragraph 19(3) engagement letter via eFiling and email to notify the taxpayer and request the supporting documents. The requested supporting documents must be uploaded on eFiling or SOQS within 10 business days. Once the submitted supporting documents have been evaluated, a revised estimate could be issued to recalculate your provisional tax liability.

16 October 2026 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

Friday, 16 October 2026 from 18:00 to 23:00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.

16 October 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Rules amendments notice R8022, as published in Government Gazette 55544 of 16 October 2026, relates to the amendments to rules under sections 19A and 120 – Substitution of petroleum accounts (DAR282)

16 October 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendments notices R8023, R8024, and R8025, as published in Government Gazette 55544 of 16 October 2026, are now available.

16 October 2026 – The SARS Payment Guide has been amended to include Investec Bank as the designated banking institution for the processing of Global Minimum Tax foreign payments via SWIFT using the prescribed Payment Reference Number (PRN).

16 October 2026 – The SARS 2025/26 Annual Report has been published and is now available on the Annual Reports & Strategic Plans webpage.

The Annual Report presents a comprehensive account of SARS’s performance, achievements, governance, and financial results for the 2025/26 financial year. It highlights the progress made in delivering our mandate, advancing our strategic objectives, and creating value for South Africa.

15 October 2026 – In the October 2026 issue we look at the Employer Interim Reconciliation Filing Season 2026 and remind Non-Provisional Individual Taxpayers of the 23 October 2026 Filing Season deadline.

15 October 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendments notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the following:

With retrospective effect from 28 August 2026

• Amendment of provisional payment in relation to anti-dumping duties against the alleged dumping of flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, painted, varnished or coated with plastics, classifiable under tariff subheadings 7210.70.20, 7210.70.30, 7210.70.40 and 7210.70.90 originating in or imported from the People’s Republic of China, in order to correct the exporters names “Shandong Shinmade Material Technology Co. Ltd” and Yie Phui (China) Technomaterial Co. Ltd (YPC) to read “Shandong Shinmade Material Tech Co. Ltd” and “Yieh Phui (China) Technomaterial Co. Ltd”, respectively, where they appear in Notice No. R. 7865 of Government Gazette No. 55269 dated 28 August 2026

With effect from 16 October 2026

• Amendment to Part 1 of Schedule No.1, by the substitution of tariff subheading 4801.00, in order to increase the general rate of customs duty on newsprint, in rolls or sheets from free of duty to 5% (ITAC Report 784)

Up to and including 3 May 2027

• Imposition of provisional payment in relation to safeguard duties against the alleged increase on imports of office paper, classifiable under tariff subheadings 4802.56.20 and 4802.56.90 (ITAC Report 791)

Publication details will be made available later

15 October 2026 – This will be the last Saturday (17 October 2026), on which SARS service centres will be open to assist taxpayers with filing their Income Tax returns ahead of the Individual Filing Season deadline of 23 October 2026.

The table below provides the details:

Changes: Dates for Eastern Cape service centres have been amended.

15 October 2026 – The Accreditation Policy for the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Programme has been revised to align with the inserted Rule 64E to cater for the additional transitional provision relating to the transfer of accreditation details in respect of statuses granted before 08 December 2023. Further to this, Rule 64E.20 has been amended and the transactional period extended to 18 months.

SC-CF-07 – Accreditation – External Policy

14 October 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964

• Draft Amendments to Rules – Insertion of rules 74B relating to advance rulings

Due date for comment: 4 November 2026

13 October 2026 – SARS will host a stakeholder webinar to provide practical guidance on the South African Traveller Declaration requirement and the related South African Traveller Management System (SATMS) on 14 October 2026, from 17:00 – 19:00.

Since 1 July 2026, travellers entering or leaving South Africa through air, land, sea and rail ports of entry have been required to submit an online traveller declaration through the SATMS platform.

The Webinar is aimed at enhancing understanding of how SATMS supports the facilitation of legitimate travel, strengthens compliance and risk management, and contributes to a modern, digitally enabled border environment.

Webinar Details

• Date: Wednesday, 14 October 2026
• Time: 17:00 to 19:00
• Platform: YouTube
• Join here: https://youtube.com/live/Cwa9JljE9ro?feature=share

13 October 2026 – Income Tax Act, 1962: Publication of notice R7839 in Government Gazette 55221 of 19 August 2026, setting the requirements and conditions that must be met by a company for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of “REIT” in section 1(1) of the Act.

13 October 2026 – Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2024: Publication of notice R7838, in Government Gazette 55220 of 19 August 2026, in relation to the determination of a date upon which section 1(1)(f) of the Act shall come into operation.

12 October 2026 – The state provides state warehouses for the safekeeping of goods. These are managed by Customs. The purpose of this list of unentered goods is to notify the importer, exporter and any other person that has interest in the goods that the goods have been taken up into the State warehouse and if they remain unentered they will be disposed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act.

See the latest Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods here.

9 October 2026 – The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Goods Declaration has been updated to include details of the new multi-purpose terminal for CIVTEQ Port Logistics., located in Durban.

SC-CF-19-A02 – Facilities Code List – External Annexure

9 October 2026 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

Friday, 09 October 2026 from 17h00 to 20h30,

Saturday, 10 October 2026 from 14h00 to 22h00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.

9 October 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendments notice R7991, as published in Government Gazette 55506 of 9 October 2026, are now available.