Customs Refund VOC On 16 May 2014 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published an amendment of the Rules (DAR/138) to the Customs and Excise Act relating to form CR1: “General Application for Customs Refund: Voucher of Correction Submission of Documents in Terms of Rule 76.04”, which was effective on the day. In accordance with Section 76(4) of the Act “General refunds in respect of imported goods or excisable goods”, “No application for a refund or payment in terms of this section shall be considered by the Commissioner unless it is received by the Controller, duly completed and in the form as may be prescribed by rule and supported by the necessary documents and other evidence …”. Fuel Levy Allocations National Treasury on 16 May 2014 announced the “Allocations to Metropolitan Municipalities of General Fuel levy Revenue” for the 2014/15 financial year, namely Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality R362m; City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality R2.00bn; City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality R2.32bn; City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality R1.35bn; Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality R1.47bn; eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality R1.97bn; Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality R257m; and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality R459m. VAT Vendors Registration On 16 May 2014 Sars published draft regulations for the registration of Valueadded Tax (VAT) vendors on which comment is due by 30 June 2014. According to the briefing note, following the 2013 Budget announcement that VAT registration would be streamlined to ease the compliance burden while guarding against fraud, certain amendments have been made to voluntary registration for VAT purposes and include the following: (i) To allow a person to voluntarily register as a vendor where no taxable supplies have been made or the taxable supplies made do not exceed R50 000 and there is a reasonable expectation that the person would make taxable supplies exceeding R50 000 within the following 12-month period commencing from the date of registration; and (ii) In order to register a person must demonstrate that he conducts a continuous and regular activity and that due to the nature of the activity, taxable supplies are likely to be made only after a period of time. WTO Customs Valuation Meeting The World Customs Organisation (WCO) Technical Committee on Customs Valuation held its 38th session in Brussels from 05 to 09 May 2014. The Committee is responsible for the technical interpretation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Customs Valuation and in particular examines technical questions submitted by WTO/WCO Members. The Committee examined questions relating to the use of transfer pricing studies when examining related party transactions, distribution fees and royalties and licence fees. A special theme meeting was also held during the week focusing on the issue of undervaluation. Duty Calls Watch List Comment on the following is due by 30 June 2014. The draft interpretation note on the supply of goods and services by professional foreign hunters. The carbon offsets paper and the review of the taxation of alcoholic beverages in South Africa.
