Appeal immediately against over-payment of duty

Importers must immediately appeal against what they think is an incorrect determination of duty by the commissioner of SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs, or lose out, according to Pre Prinsloo, a partner in the international transport, trade and energy department at Durban-based lawyers, Shepstone and Wylie. In what he described as “a technically complicated case” at the Supreme Court of Appeal, one of the court’s findings placed a very strict limit on just how long you can claim for over-payments of duty if you haven’t appealed. The court had to decide on the date from which the importer would be entitled to a refund on customs duties according to the Customs and Excise Act. “According to the provisions of this act, the court decided that an importer must appeal what it sees as a wrong tariff determination by the commissioner,” Prinsloo said. “If it doesn’t, then its entitlement to a refund for over-payments of duty would be limited to a period of two years preceding the date of the new and correct determination.” This was a finding against the importer in this case, because the original (and incorrect) determination was made by the commissioner in June 1990 and the correct determination was only made in January 2006 – 16 years later. But, because of the court ruling, the importer would only have been entitled to a refund from 2004. “Of course,” said Prinsloo, “it then becomes extremely important for importers to appeal against incorrect tariff determinations, otherwise they could be severely prejudiced if there are delays in obtaining a correct determination.”