Customs’ ‘unReal’ birthday shocker!

While the transfer of soccer star Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid was for a record-breaking fee, on a smaller scale, a commemorative Real Madrid shirt sent to a young South African for his 21st birthday also turned out to be an expensive buy. On its arrival, the wellknown voice of NowMedia’s receptionist, Lorraine da Fonseca, was raised in protest about what she termed “the iniquitous imposition of all sorts of tax and customs’ duties” – which, when all added together, came to nearly as much as the shirt cost. Her son Jayson’s uncle in Europe decided to buy him the shirt as a 21st birthday present, and it was courier/expressed across to South Africa. “But, when it arrived, customs checked the declared value of the shirt (the euro equivalent of a bit less than R1 000) and assessed the duty as R334.80.” That, she added, because it was a textile garment of a type made locally, and had a value exceeding R400 – so it got hit for 40% duty. “There was then customs VAT (value-added tax) of 14%,” Lorraine added, “plus VAT, coming to around R175, and then the courier service’s charge of R100 plus VAT. “All these VATs plus VATs plus duty totalled R624.50. It’s an exorbitant amount.” Exorbitant, possibly, said FTW customs specialist, Riaan de Lange of Tariff & Trade Intelligence, but inevitable. “The tariff book determines the rate of duty, and the category of light goods such a soccer shirt falls into would fix the duty at 40% of the customs value of the import goods – usually the invoice price. No doubt about that. “VAT’s equally inevitable – levied at 14% for all imports. “It’s no new legislation. It’s all there in the book.” SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs regrets Lorraine’s discontent, but, said Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay, its hands are tied in such a matter. “As your customs expert said, it all goes by the book,” he told FTW, at the same time sending best wishes from customs to 21st birthday boy, Jayson. “But certainly, customs considers all cases on their individual merit. And, if Lorraine can present a reasoned case to the commissioner, it would certainly be considered.”