What’s New at SARS

9 November 2022 – High Court judgments

• CSARS In re: Cyril and Another v Additional Magistrate, Magistrates Court for the Region of Alexander and Another (28948/2020) [2022] ZAGPJHC 830 (25 October 2022)
• Attieh and Others v CSARS (33784/2019) [2022] ZAGPPHC 653 (6 September 2022)
• BP South Africa (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (A24/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 542 (20 July 2022)

Summaries are available on the high court judgments page

9 November 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

9 November 2022 – Updated mobile tax unit schedules for Northern Cape.

Please note the change in venues for Kuruman and Springbok.

8 November 2022 – RFP23/2022: The request to appoint a service provider for WhatsApp business solution platform for a period of five (05) years

The following documents are now available:

• Communication number 6
• Pricing response template

8 November 2022 – Extension of closing date for RFP23/2022: The request to appoint a service provider for WhatsApp business solution platform for a period of five (05) years

Please note that the closing date for the abovementioned bid has been extended to Tuesday, 22 November 2022 at 11H00.  Click here to view the extension letter.

8 November 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964

• Draft amendments to rules under sections 15 and 120 – To pilot electronic traveller management system

Due date for comment: 22 November 2022

8 November 2022 – High Court judgments

• CSARS v Poulter In re: Poulter v CSARS (A74/2021) [2022] ZAWCHC 206 (25 October 2022)
• Puma Energy Procurement South Africa (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (A86/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 714 (20 September 2022)
• Regiments Fund Managers (PTY) Ltd and Others v CSARS and Another (33815/2021) [2022] ZAGPJHC 636 (5 September 2022)
• CRRC E Loco Supply Pty Ltd v CSARS (37766/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 527 (18 July 2022)
• Forge Packaging Pty Ltd v CSARS (21634/2021) [2022] ZAWCHC 119 (13 June 2022)
• CSARS v Morgan Beef Pty Ltd (66096/2020) [2022] ZAGPPHC 367 (2 May 2022)

Summaries are available on the high court judgments page

7 November 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• CSARS v The Thistle Trust (516/2021) [2022] ZASCA 153 (7 November 2022)

Revenue – capital gains tax – Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 – capital gains determined in respect of trusts’ disposal of assets vested in a resident trust beneficiary, who in turn made a distribution to its beneficiaries in the same year of assessment – whether section 25B or paragraph 80(2) of Schedule 8 is applicable – whether the appellant was correct in imposing an understatement penalty of 50% and interest.

7 November 2022 – High Court judgments

• CSARS v Esibonga Investment (Pty) Ltd and Others (16177/21) [2022] ZAWCHC 144 (29 July 2022)
• Peter v CSARS (A162/20 and IT 13720) [2022] ZAGPPHC 550 (18 July 2022)
• CSARS v Esibonga Investment (Pty) Ltd and Others (16177/21) [2021] ZAWCHC 250 (2 December 2021)

Summaries are available on the high court judgments page

7 November 2022 – Beware of scammers who create false social media identities and impersonate employees of SARS. Their goal is to steal your information such as personal, tax, banking and eFiling details like login credentials, passwords, pins, credit/ debit cards. Remember to always use the official and secure SARS service channels available on: Contact Us | South African Revenue Service (sars.gov.za)

4 November 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) participated in two multilateral meetings in the current week to cement international tax co-operation in Africa and among the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

In line with our Strategic Objective 8-working with stakeholders and Strategic Objective 9-building public confidence and trust, SARS has been progressively working to rebuild our international partnerships with key organizations such as OECD, Global Forum on Tax Transparency, ATAF, WCO, SADC, SACU, United Nations and the IMF as well as bilaterally with other Tax and Customs administrations. SARS actively participates and contributes constructively at these forums as was evident again during the past week.

The first meeting was the hybrid 7th Annual General Assembly of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) in Lagos, Nigeria, from 31 October to 3 November 2022. This was followed by the virtual meetings of BRICS, hosted by the State Taxation Administration (STA) of China as the current BRICS Chair. This comprised of the BRICS Tax Experts and Heads of Tax Authorities on 2 and 3 November 2022.

See the full media statement here.

4 November 2022 – Tax workshops for North West province during December.

4 November 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment Notice R2709, R2708 and R2707, as published in Government Gazette 47443 on 4 November 2022, are now available

4 November 2022 – RFP 03/2022: Establishment of Panel for Recruitment Service Providers

4 November 2022 – Kindly note that the Richards Bay branch will close today, Friday, at 13:00 for the rest of the day. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

3 November 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendment notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the amendments to –

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 3, by the substitution of the definition of “value for VAA purposes”, where it appears under “Definitions” in Note 1.2 to rebate item 317.03 – ITAC Minute 11/2021;
• Part 1C of Schedule No. 6, by the substitution of the descriptions of rebate items 620.13/104.15.25/01.02 and 620.13/104.15.27/02.02, for fortified wine entered for use in topping of sweetening of unfortified wines; and
• Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, to give effect to the phase down of the rates of duty for 2023, in terms of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) between the European Union and the Southern African Development Community EPA States and the European Union as well as the EPA between the Southern African Customs Union Member States and Mozambique and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Publication details will be made available later

2 November 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

2 November 2022 – The initiative whereby the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) have joined forces with Business and Labour to donate tons of seized clothing, blankets, and footwear to flood victims in Kwa-Zulu Natal, has entered its second phase. This entails the donation of clothing and footwear to the flood victims.

The initiative, dubbed Project Sizani (We all Help), took shape after the declaration of a state of disaster by Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa in response to the flooding in KZN during April  this year, which wreaked havoc in this province, killing over 400 people and destroying over 8 500 houses. Some parts of the Eastern Cape, North West and Free State provinces also experienced devastation due to the April flooding.

“Whilst the project is aimed at minimising the material impact of the affected people, it is also intended to restore dignity to those who were left almost naked by the disaster. Humanity is what drives this gesture more than anything else,” says Mr. Patrick Moeng, Executive: Focused Investigative Audit Unit: Syndicated Tax and Customs Crime Division at SARS, and leader of Project Sizani.

The initiative involves the distribution of some of the millions of tons of goods from the clothing, textile, footwear and leather industries (CTFL) that had been seized by SARS since 2018, which otherwise would have been destroyed in accordance with the Customs Act, Act 91 of 1964, administered by SARS, as well as a 2009 and 2020 NEDLAC agreement, stipulating that seized goods must be destroyed so as to avoid disruption to the South African market.

During the first phase, which started in June this year, the donation of blankets commenced in KZN, due to the urgent need after the April floods, where hundreds of flood survivors are still living in community halls (shelters).

The second phase comprises the donation of clothing and footwear to flood victims identified in the various district municipalities of the KZN, EC and NW provinces. It is a much more intricate process, due to the due diligence that has to be conducted for each item to be donated.

Team effort

A Governance Task Team (GTT) which comprises members from SARS, the dtic, Organised Labour and the CTFL industry is responsible for the execution of the project, although other role players that play an instrumental part in the execution of the project are the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC), the Department of Social Development (DSD), and the Offices of the various Premiers in the impacted provinces. In addition, the involvement of Business and Labour , as key stakeholders, is necessary in every step of the project, to monitor the processes and ensure any risks that may harm the local business are mitigated.

To date, more than 28 000 blankets had been delivered to specific individuals at approximately 174 sites in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The KZN phase 1 (blanket distribution) pilot paved the way for the roll-out of the second phase of the project: an even more intricate and tightly controlled process as the footwear and clothing items are wrapped in individual packages for specific individuals in specific shelters before they are handed over for distribution.

This second phase of the project is currently underway in KZN after a pilot at the two smaller shelters in Inanda and one in La Mercy offered a chance to develop and refine the process even further.

According to Mr. Moeng, 25 698 items of clothing have so far been donated to the first 31 of 74 sites in KZN. The packing, sorting and distribution to shelters continues to take place as more shipments of seized clothing arrive from Gauteng, courtesy of many shipping lines who extended their hand of goodwill to assist in transporting the containers of seized items to different parts of the country where the need has been identified.

The project is earmarked to be concluded at the end of November 2022 with North West and Eastern Cape following on the footsteps of KZN.

For queries, kindly contact [email protected],gov.za.

2 November 2022 – Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list

Export permit from ITAC is not required for tariff heading 8704.21.70, 8704.21.75 and 8704.21.77.

1 November 2022 – Supreme Court of Appeal judgments

• Mobile Telephone Networks (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (805/2021) [2022] ZASCA 142 (24 October 2022)
• Nesongozwi v CSARS (838/2021) [2022] ZASCA 138 (24 October 2022)

Summaries are available on the Supreme Court of Appeal judgments page