Sars 2014/15 Annual
Report
At the Parliamentary
Finance Standing
Committee’s meeting on
13 October 2015 the South
African Revenue Service
(Sars) released its 2014/15
annual report.
What follows are
extracts which may be
of interest to you, but
these extracts are by no
means exhaustive. Unless
otherwise stated, these are
direct quotes.
The Customs Control
Act, 2014 and the Customs
Duty Act, 2014 were
promulgated in July 2014
and will take effect on a
date to be determined by
the president. Translations
of the bills were sent to
parliament in February
2014. The provisions of the
new customs acts will be
introduced incrementally.
The implementation of
the acts will result in
customs making greater
use of third party data
and will increase the
exchange of electronic
information with other
government agencies
and customs authorities.
Sars has set up a steering
committee to oversee the
implementation of the new
customs acts.
Customs duties fell
7.9% to R40.7 billion
in 2014/15 as a result
of a severe decline in
vehicle imports. These
duties were R0.8 billion
higher than the revised
estimate of R39.9 billion.
Another major factor that
reduced income from
customs duties was the
re-allocation in 2014/15
of imported fuel duties of
R2.7 billion. Imported fuel
duties are now included in
the fuel levy tax category
instead of customs duty.
Figures for previous years
have not been adjusted
to accommodate this
re-allocation.
Own commentary:
In the annual report
under ‘Sars performance
highlights at a glance –
revenue collected’ it states
“Customs revenue
R178 billion – R2.2 billion
above target”. You should
question, against which
target, for the February
2014 target was R202bn,
which means R24bn below
target. The customs duties
estimate for February 2014
was R50.3bn, the revised
February 2015 estimate
was R39bn and the actual
was R40.7bn. The revision
division does not specify
the ad valorem customs
duties (Schedule No 1
Part 2B of the Customs
and Excise Act, 1964),
or the Environmental
levies (‘Incandescent light
bulb levy’ is the only one
covered), and the Road
Accident Fund. Southern
African Customs Union
(Sacu) payments were
R51.74 billion.
There are collectively
535 061 registered
importers (280 953) and
exporters (254 108), both
having increased by 3.1%
on the previous year. Own
commentary: The question
remains how many
importers and exporters
are still active?
As for overdue taxpayer
debt for 2014/15, for
customs it was R1.44bn
(for 2013/2014 it was
R1.95bn) and for excise
R374.74m (it was
R376.63m).
Duty Calls Watch List
Applications for 2016
Export Permits under the
Trade, Development and
Co-Operation Agreement
(TDCA); and for the 2016
Market Access Permits for
Agricultural Products in
terms of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO)
agreement are now open.
DUTY CALLS
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