Duty Calls

Sars’ February
Compliance
Commitments
The following are South
African Revenue Service’s
(Sars) commitments released
on 05 September 2016 and
scheduled for February 2017.
In order to “Improve
control over the flow of
all goods and travellers
entering and leaving the
country” (ii) Conclude the
implementation of the new
state warehouse barcode
inventory management
system across state
warehouses and acquire
additional warehouse
capacity for Cape Town
and Durban at suitable,
cost-effective locations by
February 2017.
In order to “Identify,
assess and respond to
risks more effectively”, (iv)
Review the current case
selection capability and
automated risk engine with
the objective to improve risk
management in the customs
realm to the next level of
excellence. In this regard,
a recommendations report
will be tabled by the end of
February 2017.
This brings the count to
14, with three scheduled for
the end of March 2017 and
the remaining one for the
end of February 2018.
We welcome your
comments on the success of
the commitments.
Tax Administration
Laws Act
Neglected to make mention
last week that the Act also
introduced amendments
to the Customs Control
Act, 2014, for the third
consecutive year. These
amendments are (i) to make
certain technical corrections;
(ii) to delete certain
unnecessary provisions;
(iii) to make changes to
provisions relating to the
submission of cross-border
train departure reports;
(iv) to provide for the
transmission of electricity
under the international
transit procedure; (v) to
broaden a rule enabling
provision to include rules
relating to the treatment
of detained counterfeit
goods in state warehouses;
and (vi) generally, to make
adjustments for the smoother
implementation of that Act.
Tyre Environmental
Levy
On 27 January Sars
pubished an array of
tariff amendments for the
environmental levy on tyres,
announced by the Minister
of Finance on 24 February
2016, to be implemented on
01 February 2017. It includes
the amendment to Rule
54F to the Customs and
Excise Act, 1964, with the
amended Forms DA178 and
DA185.4B2 to follow at an
unspecified date.
Hybrid Vehicles Levy
Sars on 27 January
announced the
introduction, on the day,
of an environmental levy
on carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions for hybrid vehicles.
Electric Blanket
Rebate
On 27 January Sars
announced the
insertion of rebate items
311.42/8536.50.50/01.08 and
311.42/8544.49.90/01.08
to provide for the rebate of
the full ‘general’ customs
duty on switches and wire
for the manufacture of
electric blankets.
The reasoning for the
creation and insertion
of the rebate items to
the Schedules to the
Act, 1964, is contained
in the International
Trade Administration
Commission of South
Africa (Itac) report no 536.
TFA – 2 to go
Nepal on 24 January
became the 108th World
Trade Organisation
(WTO) member to ratify
the Trade Facilitation
Agreement (TFA)
requiring only two more
ratifications for the TFA to
enter into force.