What’s New at SARS

1 September 2023 – Employer Interim Reconciliation is part of the Filing Season. This year, the Employer Interim Reconciliation for Employers filing season starts on 18 September 2023 until 31 October 2023. During this period, all employers in both private and public enterprises must reconcile their Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201). These reconciliations are based on the Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) submitted with the tax values of the interim IRP5/IT3(a)s certificates generated, accurate payroll information and employees’ tax (PAYE) payments made during the period 1 March 2023 – 31 August 2023. Thereafter, employers can submit an Employer’s Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) to SARS. See more detail here in a letter to Employers.

1 September 2023 – Achieving our Vision 2024 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 & technology infrastructure. In order to provide clarity & certainty, make it easy for taxpayers & traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets have to demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

Pursuant to 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 & technology infrastructure are available, robust & secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements, and maintenance.

In light of the above, SARS Digital platform upgrades are scheduled for Saturday 2 September 2023 from 22:00 to Sunday 3 September 2023 at 04:00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling Platform.

Customs Digital Platform will not be available during this time.

Responses (CUSRES messages) to transactions submitted during this time will be delayed, however arrival and exit management functions are available at land border posts for all released declarations and manifests.

Stakeholders are therefore urged to submit priority Goods Declarations (bills of entry) and Road Manifest by Saturday, 2 September 2023 @ 21:00.

31 August 2023 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

31 August 2023 – When you apply for a Tax Compliance Status (TCS) in respect of foreign investment allowance for individuals, you are required to submit supporting documents. Where bank statements are required for the approval of International Transfers (AIT), it has now been specified that it must be issued no longer than 14 days before the date that the AIT application is submitted, reflecting the relevant amount. For more information, see the Supporting documents for the approval of International Transfers webpage and the updated Guide to the Tax Compliance Status functionality on eFiling.

31 August 2023 – RFP011/2023: Appointment of a suitably qualified 5 ME or higher (CIDB grade) to upgrade HVAC system at Lehae La SARS in Brooklyn

The updated drawings and answers to questions from bidders are now available.

31 August 2023 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R16.0 billion in July 2023 attributable to exports of R174.0 billion and imports of R158.0 billion.

See the Media Release here or visit the Trade Statistics webpage.

31 August 2023 – Tender bids received

The updated tender bids received document is now available.

31 August 2023 – The external guide, SC-CF-43 – Managed Shared Access Through eFiling, has been updated to include:

• The new link to the definitions, acronyms and abbreviations; and
• The disclaimer paragraph.

30 August 2023 – Updated Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list.

Tariff heading 0507.10 needs a TOPS and CITES permit from DFFE – Environment for Import & Export.

30 August 2023 – The September schedule for Western Cape is now available

• Mobile Tax Units schedule September 2023

30 August 2023 – RFP29/2023: Appointment of a service provider for the provision of regulatory compliance management software tool

Answers to questions raised by bidders and the Regulatory Compliance Universe document  now available.

30 August 2023 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will be implementing enhancements to the Tax Directives system during September 2023.

Please familiarise yourself with the following anticipated changes:

Paragraph (b)(xii)(bb) of the definition of “retirement annuity fund” in section 1(1):

A member with more than one contract / policy in a retirement annuity fund can transfer one or more of these contracts / policies to another approved retirement annuity fund, subject to certain conditions. When transferring a contract / policy, the Fund Administrator must ensure that the value of the individual contract / policy in the retirement annuity fund being transferred to another retirement annuity fund is R371 250 and above, and that if an amount remains in the fund, the remaining value in the retirement annuity fund after the transfer, is at least R371 250. If the member’s total interest (all contracts / policies combined) in the retirement annuity fund is being transferred to one other retirement annuity fund, the monetary restriction on the value per transferring contract or policy is not applicable, and the member’s total interest can be transferred from one retirement annuity fund to another. Please note that this change is only applicable to transfers prior to retirement that take place from one retirement annuity fund to another retirement annuity fund.

Deemed retirement from a Provident Fund Par4(3) of the 2nd Schedule:

Fund administrators must note that the reason “Provident Fund deemed retirement” cannot be used if the date of accrual is on or after 1 March 2023.

Paragraph 2(1)(c) of the Second Schedule:

A retirement benefit, in respect of a member who has reached retirement age, that was transferred to a Preservation Fund, cannot be accessed as a once-off withdrawal benefit, prior to retirement.

Recognition of Transfer

To assist the Fund Administrators / Long-Term Insurers to understand the Recognition of Transfer (ROT) decline reasons, SARS has enhanced the response messages to be more meaningful to ensure that the recipients understand what needs to be corrected before attempting to resubmit the ROT.

Fund administrators / Long-term Insurers are reminded that when a retirement benefit is successfully transferred or there was a purchase of annuity on retirement, the receiving fund / Long-term Insurer must, submit a ROT to SARS. This is to confirm that the member’s benefit, as indicated on the tax directive, was received. SARS sends a notification to the receiving fund if the ROT has not been submitted to SARS after 21 working days. Where an ROT remains outstanding after 21 working days, the taxpayer will receive a notification. Should the ROT not be received from either the fund or the taxpayer after 21 working days may result in the taxpayer’s return being rejected and the transfer / POA will be treated as a withdrawal benefit and will be subject to tax as such.

30 August 2023 – The declaration processing system (DPS) has been enhanced to include:

• The dual inspection process for bonded movement goods; and
• The electronic exchange of declaration information with other government agencies (OGAs) after obtaining prior consent from the registered SARS client.

The Customs status response message annexure (SC-CF-55-A09) has been updated to include the new Customs response messages (CUSRES) and scenarios for both of the above-mentioned system enhancements.

A new Supporting Document Codes list annexure (SC-CF-55-A11) has been created.  Declarants must use the codes when uploading the requested supporting documents to the Customs clearance declaration (CCD) case.

The Completion of Declaration annexure (SC-CF-55-A01) has been updated to include:

• The consignee details that must be used when completing an export CCD.
• The transfer of liability requirements in the remover code paragraph.  When a declarant wants to make use of a licenced remover of goods (ROG) instead of the shipping line, to move containerised goods to the place of inspection, the ROG code must be inserted in this field.
• Which house bill of lading/air waybill details must be inserted in the paragraph dealing with the house waybill number.
• The mandatory completion requirement of the VAT indicator field when a VAT Registration Number is declared.
• The UK additional information code.

The Alphabetic Country and Currency Codes annexure (SC-CF-55-A05) has been amended to reflect Euro as the official currency used in countries that form part of the European Union.

The external policy and annexures can be accessed through the following link:

• SC-CF-55 – Clearance Declaration – External Policy;
• SC-CF-55-A01 – Completion of Declarations – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A02 – Alphabetic District Office Codes – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A03 – Combination Matrix – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A04 – Procedure Measure Matrix – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A05 – Alphabetic Country and Currency Codes – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A06 – Supplementary Unit Codes – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A07 – Countable Quantity Codes – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A08 – Export Coding – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A09 – Customs Status Response Messages – External Annexure;
• SC-CF-55-A10 – Acquittal and Proof of Export Requirements – External Annexure; and
• SC-CF-55-A11 – Supporting Document Codes – External Annexure.

29 August 2023 – RFP011/2023: Appointment of a suitably qualified 5 ME or higher (CIDB grade) to upgrade HVAC system at Lehae La SARS in Brooklyn

The combined BOQ document is now available.

28 August 2023 – Value-Added Tax Act, 1991

• Binding General Ruling 65 – Value-added tax treatment of rounding difference in cash transactions

28 August 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Draft amendments to rules and substitution of forms

• Draft amendments to rules under sections 59A, 60, 64F, 75, 101A and 120 – Electronic submission of applications for refunds and drawback
• Substitution of forms
  • DA 63 – Application for refund – Export for trade purposes of imported duty paid goods (Refund item 522.03)
  • DA 64 – Application for drawback/refund
  • DA 66 – General Application for drawback/refund

Due date for comment: 6 September 2023

28 August 2023 – SARS is commencing the journey to protect documents with passwords so that only the intended recipient can access the information. The first document that will have this encryption applied is the Notice of Registration: IT150. Once a taxpayer receives this document from SARS, they will be required to use their ID/ Passport/ Permit number to open their Notice of Registration:

25 August 2023 – The September schedules for North West are now available:

• Mmabatho Tax workshops
• Potchefstroom and Vryburg Mobile Tax Units

25 August 2023 – Achieving our Vision 2024 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 & technology infrastructure. In order to provide clarity & certainty, make it easy for taxpayers & traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets have to demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

Pursuant to 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 & technology infrastructure are available, robust & secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements, and maintenance.

In light of the above, SARS Digital platform upgrades are scheduled for Saturday 26 August 2023 from 5:00 to 10:00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling Platform.

24 August 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• SARSTC IT 45638 (IT) [2023] ZATC CPT (19 July 2023)

Whether the taxpayer’s expenditure on the grant to Newco is properly characterised as being revenue or capital in nature