What’s New at SARS

25 November 2022 – The payment of duties and levies on fuel levy or excisable petroleum products becomes payable when removed from the manufacturing warehouse and not when they go into home consumption.

A special storage warehouse (SOS) may only be licensed to store fuel levy goods for export and not for removal thereof to the BELN countries. For more information, see the updated policy document.

• SE-OIL-02 – Oil Industry – External Policy

25 November 2022 – RFP08/2022: SARS technical security modernisation tender for the procurement including maintenance

The tender submission workshop document is now available.

24 November 2022 – RFP18/2022: Appointment of service providers for the maintenance of diesel generators at SARS

24 November 2022 – Invitation to a webinar on Dispute Process

To assist taxpayers and traders to fulfil their tax obligations and remain compliant, SARS will host a virtual webinar for taxpayers, traders and SMMEs where we will discuss the dispute process in relation to SARS assessments.

As a taxpayer, you have the right to lodge a dispute when you are not in agreement with an assessment. The aim of this webinar is to educate taxpayers about their rights and obligations relating to the dispute process.

In line with our strategic intent of building and sustaining a culture of voluntary compliance, SARS believes that when taxpayers have clarity and certainty about their tax obligations, they will be in a better position to fulfil their legal obligations.

The following topics will be covered:

• Definition of the dispute process and the types of disputes that exist.
• Time frames for different disputes to be lodged
• What channels are available for the various dispute processes
• The timelines in which disputes and appeals are finalised.
• What is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)?
• Common errors that lead to rejection of disputes and delay the dispute process.

As a valued taxpayer, you are invited to join us at the webinar. You may also extend this invitation to other interested parties

Webinar details:

Theme: Dispute Process

Date: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Time:  17:00 – 19:00
Platforms: Zoom and YouTube

Register in advance for this webinar on the following link:

https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tRfBc8_6RDKkVI26c_u8JQ

Webinar ID: 929 4015 7278

Passcode: 676954

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log in to the webinar.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/uBVDU1qbR9w

To view the presentation click here.

If you have questions about Dispute Process, please email [email protected]

24 November 2022 – Tax workshops for North West province – January to March 2023

24 November 2022 – Tax workshops for Durban CBD – January to June 2023

23 November 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

23 November 2022 – High Court judgments

• CSARS v Matsepe (40873/20) [2022] ZAGPPHC 801 (27 October 2022)
• CSARS v Louis Pasteur Investments (Pty) Ltd and Others (A139/21) [2022] ZAGPPHC 754 (7 October 2022)

Summaries are available on the high court judgments page

23 November 2022 – Labour Court judgments

• NEHAWU obo Mahole v SARS and Others (JR 2308/2018) [2022] ZALCJHB 297 (27 October 2022)
• CSARS v Mashilo and Another (JS 108/18) [2022] ZALCJHB 301 (21 October 2022)
•  NEHAWU obo Mahole v SARS and Others (JR 2308/2018) [2022] ZALCJHB 198 (29 July 2022)

Summaries are available on the labour court judgments page

22 November 2022 – Kindly note that the SARS Mitchells Plain branch is closed for the rest of the day. It will reopen tomorrow, 23 November 2022. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

22 November 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is pleased to announce that it has settled the labour dispute with and reinstated two former employees, Ms Hope Mashilo and Ms Tshebeletso Seremane with effect 1 September 2022. This marks a further milestone in reversing and repairing the adverse effects of the capture of SARS and its journey to rebuilding public confidence and trust.

SARS acknowledges the harm caused to Ms Mashilo and Ms Seremane when in 2015, as a result of the infamous Bain and Co restructuring process, their positions in SARS were downgraded, they were dictated to accept positions which were not on the approved new structure, their repeated requests for information fell on deaf ears and when they refused to take up those positions, it led to their dismissal “due to operational requirements” in terms of s 189 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (“the LRA”), as amended.

See the full media statement here.

21 November 2022 – RFP30/2022: The appointment of a service provider for the provision of office space in Benoni for the period of (5) five years

21 November 2022 – Invitation to a webinar on Dispute Process

To assist taxpayers and traders to fulfil their tax obligations and remain compliant, SARS will host a virtual webinar for taxpayers, traders and SMMEs where we will discuss the dispute process in relation to SARS assessments.

As a taxpayer, you have the right to lodge a dispute when you are not in agreement with an assessment. The aim of this webinar is to educate taxpayers about their rights and obligations relating to the dispute process.

In line with our strategic intent of building and sustaining a culture of voluntary compliance, SARS believes that when taxpayers have clarity and certainty about their tax obligations, they will be in a better position to fulfil their legal obligations.

The following topics will be covered:

• Definition of the dispute process and the types of disputes that exist.
• Time frames for different disputes to be lodged
• What channels are available for the various dispute processes
• The timelines in which disputes and appeals are finalised.
• What is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)?
• Common errors that lead to rejection of disputes and delay the dispute process.

As a valued taxpayer, you are invited to join us at the webinar. You may also extend this invitation to other interested parties

Webinar details:

Theme: Dispute Process

Date: Thursday, 24 November 2022
Time:  17:00 – 19:00
Platforms: Zoom and YouTube

Register in advance for this webinar on the following link:

https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tRfBc8_6RDKkVI26c_u8JQ

Webinar ID: 929 4015 7278

Passcode: 676954

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log in to the webinar.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/uBVDU1qbR9w

To view the presentation click here.

If you have questions about Dispute Process, please email [email protected]

21 November 2022 – [email protected] version 7.3.1 was released. Note that release 7.3.0 was included in this release.

The release include the following changes:

• Adjustment to manual capture validation for source codes 3920 and 3921 in respect of 2009 Tax Year to align with import and pre-submission validation as defined in the SARS PAYE BRS
• Aligning date format in the EMP501 submission file to the SARS standard
• Allow manual capture of employees and IT3(a)’s for Employers using Income Tax Reference number(s) which commences with the digits 0/1/2/3/ or 9 for EMP501 Reconciliations.

Visit our [email protected] webpage for more information.

18 November 2022 – RFP08/2022: SARS Technical Security Modernisation Tender

• Communication number 15&16 have been published.
• SARS has scheduled a second MS Teams session to clarify pertinent issues of this tender and enable prospective bidders to submit a response (the tender closes 31/11/2022 at 11h00). See more information here.

18 November 2022 – Cancellation of tender: RFP01/2022 – Appointment of Consulting engineering firm in the field of technical security.

18 November 2022- This past week witnessed the tax world focusing on taking tax transparency and exchange of information to the next level during the annual OECD Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) 15^th Plenary held in Seville, Spain from 9-11 November 2022.

As business models increasingly evolve to be more digital, non-local and virtual, physical borders have become less relevant in the production and movement of goods and services. Consequently, national tax bases are under constant threat of erosion. In this regard, it is essential to work with and through stakeholders to improve the tax ecosystem to foster greater collaboration and co-operation. Leveraging the benefits of tax transparency and exchange of information supports the pursuit of developing a Tax and Customs system based on voluntary compliance.

See the full media statement here.

18 November 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Draft Notice – Listing further information that must be included on a receipt issued in terms of section 18A(2)(a) of the Act

Due date for comment: 5 December 2022

18 November 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment notice R2742, as published in Government Gazette 47519 on 18 November 2022, are now available.

17 November 2022 – The South African Revenue Service has welcomed a 7 years direct prison sentence handed to one of our own, Mr Malatse Kolokoto by the Palm Ridge Magistrate Court after being found guilty of corruption. This stems from an incident in which the accused facilitated that a traveller leaves the country with goods without proper declaration.