New ruling for BLNS has stopped illegal round-tripping
A DEFERRED PAYMENT system for VAT owing has been instituted by the South African Revenue Services (SARS) in an effort to defuse protests from South African and BLNS traders concerned that the new regulations in this respect governing cross-border transactions would result in serious cash flow problems.
But, say SARS officials, much of the illegal round-tripping of goods has been stopped as a result of the point-of-entry VAT rule and tighter border controls.
Delegates at a Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Maseru last week were told that items such as the consumption of cigarettes in Lesotho for example, based on import figures from South Africa, have taken a major tumble in the past two months.
According to departmental statistics, the number of cigarettes exported to Lesotho suggested that every living person in the kingdom - adult and child - smoked an average of 400 cigarettes daily during last year.
It was revealed to them as one of the more blatant examples of round-tripping to avoid payment of VAT. Customs officials have stated that most of the goods shown on 'export-import' lists never crossed the border. These included clothing, textiles and liquor among other items, apart from the massive cigarette scams.
People were able to drive to the border, have their clearance certificates stamped, and then drive back again, trade officials confirmed. In many instances the goods cleared for export never left their warehouses.
On the Swaziland border three of the previous nine entry points have been closed, and VAT is now imposed even on curios valued at more than R1200. This, say customs officials, is done to cover commercial imports but does not penalise tourists who have purchased below this figure.
BY LEONARD NEILL
