What’s New at SARS

30 September 2022 – RFP24/2022: Appointment of a service provider for the rental of SARS kiosks

30 September 2022 – The South African Revenue Service would like to invite all interested parties to a series of free tax education sessions to be held VIRTUALLY. A link to be available upon confirming attendance

• October Schedule

30 September 2022 – The September  2022 issue of the Government Connect newsletter is now available.

30 September 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Draft amendments to schedules 

The draft amendments, initially published on 19 September 2022 for comment, are proposed in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, Schedules Nos 4, 5 and 6 to the Customs and Excise Act. Note that  Part 4 of Schedule No. 5 is an addition to the below list:

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 1 – Insertions, deletions and substitutions of tariff subheadings under several Chapters
• Part 2 of Schedule No. 4 – Consequential   amendment to rebate item 460.18/9001.10/01.06
• Part 4 of Schedule No. 5 – Deletion of refund items 540.01/195.10/0105, 540.01/195.10/02.05 and 540.01/195.20/01.05; and
• Part 1D of Schedule No. 6 – Deletion of Note 4(A)

Due date for comment extended to 10 October 2022

30 September 2022 – Tax Exempt Institutions Connect first edition

The Tax Exempt Institutions (TEI) Segment has published the first EI Connect, which deals with insights, topics, and themes relevant to the Income Tax Exempt sector of taxpayers. The TEI Segment will publish the EI Connect on a quarterly basis and will have various snippets of information on the tax obligations and rights of the Income Tax Exempt sector of taxpayers, which will be featured under the “Did you Know” section. Each “Did You know” will deal with a different topic, and will provide insights and answers to some of the frequently asked questions received from taxpayers. This issue deals with the tax rights and obligations of Public Schools as tax exempt institutions (EIs). Should you want a specific topic to be discussed in the “Did You Know” section, please e-mail the [email protected]

30 September 2022 – SARS today releases trade statistics for August 2022 recording a preliminary trade balance surplus of R7.18 billion attributable to exports of R175.37 billion and imports of R168.19 billion.

See the full Media Release here.

Or visit the Trade Statistics webpage.

30 September 2022 – Mobile tax unit schedule for KwaZulu-Natal – October 2022

29 September 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 124 – Public benefit organisations: Provision of residential care for retired persons

29 September 2022 – High Court judgments

• South African Breweries (Pty) Ltd v CSARS and Another (01740/21; 3889/21 and 7772/21) [2022] ZAGPPHC 695 (13 September 2022)
• CSARS v Wiese and Others (15065/17) [2022] ZAWCHC 188 (9 September 2022)

Summaries are available on the high court judgments page

29 September 2022 – Tax court judgments

• SARSTC 35476 (ADM) [2022] ZATC JHB (23 August 2022)
• SARSTC IT 45628 (IT) [2022] ZATC JHB (17 August 2022)

Summaries are available on the tax court judgments page

29 September 2022 –  From October 2022, individuals who are not registered yet, could be automatically registered for Personal Income Tax if SARS detects 3rd party data that indicates economic activity.  If the auto-registered taxpayer is a sole proprietor, he or she may still have to register for other tax products like PAYE for an employer, Value Added Tax for a vendor, and Customs and/or Excise if they are a trader in that field. SARS will send an SMS and a letter to such an individual, officially welcoming them as a registered taxpayer and informing them of how to access our services and what their rights and obligations are.

It is important for newly registered taxpayers to register for eFiling, as this is the most efficient way to file a tax return, view assessment results, make payments, and manage many other tax matters.

28 September 2022 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is increasing its focus on Trusts by embarking on a journey to modernise and improve service offerings to this segment of taxpayers. These improvements aim to make it easy and simple for Trusts to comply with their legal obligations.

Pursuant to the above, SARS has conducted a detailed current state analysis of tax compliance by Trusts and their beneficiaries to determine whether all Trusts and their beneficiaries are registered with SARS for tax purposes and whether all Trusts and their beneficiaries have filed their annual income tax returns. If so, whether such returns fully and accurately reflect their actual tax status and their payment obligations have been fully met.

SARS is working hard to increase and expand the use of data. Through this process, SARS has identified a significant number of beneficiaries of Trusts who have received distributions but have not submitted income tax returns in line with their legal obligation as per the annual public notice under section 25 of the Tax Administration Act 23 of 2011.

These beneficiaries consist of companies, individuals and Trusts who must submit their outstanding income tax returns immediately. Failure to remedy this non-compliance, SARS will invoke the provisions of the law which may include actions such as raising estimated assessments, imposition of interest and penalties as well as civil and criminal sanctions.

In line with its strategic objectives of providing clarity and certainty to enable taxpayers to comply with their legal obligations as required by law, an interim online registration platform (SOQS) is available to assist and enable Trusts to register with SARS. This platform can be accessed via the following hyperlink:  SARS Online Query (2.0.0.0 (Prod)).

SARS Commissioner Mr Edward Kieswetter said that “SARS will invoke all measures provided for in legislation if Trusts taxpayers and their beneficiaries intentionally negate their legal obligations. However, Trust taxpayers and their beneficiaries may still regularize their tax affairs by making use of the SARS Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) which is available and accessible on the eFiling platform”.

For further information, please contact [email protected]

28 September 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964

• Samsung Electronics SA (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (764/2021) [2022] ZACSA 126 (28 September 2022)

Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 – classification of smartphone as a ‘telephone for cellular networks’ for customs duty.

28 September 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962, and Superior Courts Act, 2013

• CSARS v Porrit N O and Others (9260/2013) [2022] ZAKZPHC 53 (16 September 2022)

Whether plaintiff could oppose application for amendment

28 September 2022 – Amended mobile tax unit schedules for Eastern Cape for October 2022 is now available.

27 September 2022 – Mobile tax unit schedules for Free State for October 2022:

• Sterkspruit
• Aliwal North

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

27 September 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

27 September 2022 – RFP 22/2022: The Establishment of a Panel for Printing, Labelling and Packaging for Communication Material Services.

26 September 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Table 3 – Rates at which interest-free or low interest loans are subject to income tax