What’s New at SARS

8 August 2022 – RFP14/2022: Appointment of a service provider(s) for the provision of onsite document storage reduction services for Cape Town and Johannesburg processing centres for the period of twenty-four (24) months

8 August 2022 – RFP02-2022: Questions and answers Part 2  – Answer for question No.18

8 August 2022 – Our current call volumes are high and waiting times extremely long. A number of our branches are also closed for in person visits. All our online services are available and we encourage taxpayers to make use of these.

The status of the SARS tax branches today as at 9:30 and 13:00:

EC = Eastern Cape

FS/NC = Free State/Northern Cape

GN = Gauteng North

GS = Gauteng South

KZN = Kwazulu-Natal

MP = Mpumalanga

NW = North West

WC = Western Cape

5 August 2022 – Updated list: Tenders bids received, 2021 – 2022

5 August 2022 – RFP02-2022: Appointment of a VAT Refund Administrator

Erratum and additional documents have been published.

• Erratum 
• Performance Guarantee Template
• Third Party Data process Information
• Questions and answers Part 2

5 August 2022 – The current excise duty regime applies a flat excise rate of 34.7c/kg for traditional African beer powder. As there are similar products on the market, and in the interest of equity, these alcohol powder products will be included in the tax net with an excise rate equivalent to that of the traditional African beer powder from 1 October 2022. In terms of the National Treasury’s proposal, alcohol powder products classified as preparations for use in the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages will be taxed. See the letter to trade here.

5 August 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• BPR 375 – Unbundling of shares in a CFC

5 August 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1962: Publication details for tariff amendment notices R.2345, R.2355, R.2356 and R.2357, as published in Government Gazette 47199 on 5 August 2022, are now available

5 August 2022 – Our current call volumes are high and waiting times extremely long. A number of our branches are also closed for in person visits. All our online services are available and we encourage taxpayers to make use of these.

The status of the SARS tax branches today as at 9:30. Scroll down for the Customs offices.

EC = Eastern Cape

FS/NC = Free State/Northern Cape

GN = Gauteng North

GS = Gauteng South

KZN = Kwazulu-Natal

MP = Mpumalanga

NW = North West

WC = Western Cape

Customs Offices:

5 August 2022 – The IBM Security Identity Manager  (ISIM) will be upgraded from Friday, 5 August at 17:00 until Saturday, 6 August at 02:00 in the early morning.  The change will impact new enrolments on the Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) system. In other words, enrolled traders will not be impacted, however no new enrolments will be possible for the duration of the change. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

4 August 2022 – The SARS Pavilion branch in Pretoria has been permanently closed, but staff continue to service clients. Tax practitioners are advised to book appointments via the usual channels if they need assistance from SARS (if they book via the SARS website: SARS Booking System, they should continue to choose the “Pavilion” option).

4 August 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1962: The tariff amendment notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the amendments to –

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the insertion of Additional Notes in Chapters 19 and 21 as well as new subheadings to provide for preparations for making alcoholic beverages, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 23 February 2022;
• Part 2A of Schedule No. 1, as a consequence to the amendment in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 23 February 2022;
• Part 7A of Schedule No. 1, as a consequence to the insertion of the new tariff subheading in Chapter 19 in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 23 February 2022; and
• Part 1A of Schedule No. 6, as a consequence to the amendment in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, to give effect to the Budget proposals announced by the Minister of Finance on 23 February 2022.

These amendments are with effect from 1 October 2022

Publication details will be made available later

4 August 2022 – RFP54/2021: Appointment of Panel of a service providers for the provision of Project Management Contractors

4 August 2022 – RFP10/2022:  Appointment of a service provider for the provision of event management services for SARS’ 25th anniversary.  The following documents are now available:

• Briefing presentation
• Questions and answers
• Woman’s Jail site plan

4 August 2022 – Our current call volumes are high and waiting times extremely long. A number of our branches are also closed for in person visits. All our online services are available and we encourage taxpayers to make use of these.

The status of the SARS tax branches today as at 9:30. Scroll down for the Customs offices.

EC = Eastern Cape

FS/NC = Free State/Northern Cape

GN = Gauteng North

GS = Gauteng South

KZN = Kwazulu-Natal

MP = Mpumalanga

NW = North West

WC = Western Cape

Customs Offices:

3 August 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) notes the appearance of a clearing agent and his co-accused at the Durban Commercial Crime Court on 28 July 2022, for a customs and excise related fraud matter. The two were charged with defrauding SARS and their clients of more than R2 million. The matter has been postponed to 20 October 2022.

Jayson Perumal (43) of Dynamic Freight and Reshlan Pillay (38) were charged with fraud and various contraventions of the Customs and Excise Act. Both accused are out on bail.

It is alleged that Reshlan Pillay, director of Potenza Capital, and a clearing agent, processed customs entries whilst working with Jayson Perumal of Dynamic Freight, who was acting on behalf of various importers.  Potenza Capital is alleged to have submitted false documents to SARS, where the values of the goods, the goods themselves and the importers details were falsified, resulting in minimal duties and VAT paid over to SARS.

SARS is aware of these types of fraud and wants to warn clearing agents that they will face the full might of the law when arrested.  At the same time, SARS also wishes to warn the public, especially importers, to be vigilant when contracting with clearing agents. They need to be aware of the correct duties and VAT that need to be paid, and ensure that those amounts have actually been paid to SARS. In terms of the Customs and Excise Act, the importer is ultimately liable for the duties and VAT payable to SARS.

Importers should demand proof of their payments to SARS, relating to any of their imports, from clearing agents. SARS has established that some clearing agents wilfully under declare the value of goods by as much as 90%, through falsifying importation documents. However, they are alleged to claim the correct duties and VAT from their clients, whilst paying SARS the minimum duties and VAT. The clearing agents then allegedly pocket the difference, thereby enabling the low rates for their services, whilst defrauding both SARS and the importer.

The importer is in fact prejudiced twice if SARS audits these transactions and levy the correct amount of VAT and duties which is payable by the importer.  SARS is concerned about the scope of this scam, as investigations into similar schemes to the value of millions of Rands are currently being investigated in Gauteng and in the Western Cape.

SARS Commissioner Mr Edward Kieswetter expressed his satisfaction “that SARS is living up to its strategic objective of making it hard and costly for those that chose to engage in criminality when dealing with SARS”. While the matter remains sub-judice and its merits are still to be determined, he further said that “it is critically important that all role players act prudently and honestly when dealing with SARS”.

3 August 2022 – The August 2022 issue of the VAT Connect newsletter is now available.

3 August 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

3 August 2022 – Our current call volumes are high and waiting times extremely long. A number of our branches are also closed for in person visits. All our online services are available and we encourage taxpayers to make use of these.

The status of the SARS tax branches today as at 9:30. Scroll down for the Customs offices.

EC = Eastern Cape

FS/NC = Free State/Northern Cape

GN = Gauteng North

GS = Gauteng South

KZN = Kwazulu-Natal

MP = Mpumalanga

NW = North West

WC = Western Cape

Customs Offices:

2 August 2022 – Value-Added Tax Act, 1991

• Frequently Asked Questions: Domestic Reverse Charge Regulations (Issue 2)