On 10 February the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Director: Customs Border Operations, Ports of Entry and Customs Compliance released a letter to External Stakeholders, titled “13th Deferment Payment At The End Of The 2020/21 Financial Year”.
The letter reads:
Dear Trader,
This letter serves as a reminder to all Customs clients who are deferment account holders to kindly adhere to the 13th deferment payment requirement, which is due by end of the financial year.
The Customs External Standard-Deferment document (SC-DT-B-02), effective 29 March 2019, stipulates that, in addition to the twelve (12) regular payment dates chosen by the client, there will be a thirteenth payment in March.
The statement period for the thirteenth payment of this financial year (2020/2021) will close on 30 March 2021 at 17:00. It is the obligation of all account holders to ensure that their reconciliations are done timeously, and that payment is received no later than 15:00 on 31 March.
The e-statements will be available from 19:00 on 30 March for account holders who are on e-Filing. Account holders who are not on e-Filing, are advised to make prior arrangement for their statements to be e-mailed to them by their Customs Branch. Due to the COVID-19 safety measures that are currently in place, no statements can be dropped off or collected at Customs branches.
Furthermore, stakeholders should ensure, specifically in cases where their bank does not transfer direct payments immediately, that payments are made sufficiently in advance in order to meet the payment deadline stated above, otherwise a deferment suspension will be applied in line with the policy.
Your cooperation in this regard is highly appreciated.
Story by: Riaan de Lange