Draft Tariff Amendment – Comment due On 22 August 2013 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published the draft substitution of Note 6(ij)(ii)(aa)C in Schedule No. 6 Part 3 to the Act (Rebates and Refunds of Fuel Levy and Road Accident Fund Levy: Rebates and Refunds of Excise Duties, Fuel Levy, Accident Fund Levy and Environmental Levy) to provide clarity in the interpretation regarding eligible commercial fishing permit holders. The proposed Note to read “(c) that are nominated on a valid commercial fishing permit issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998);”. The Note presently reads “(c) if the master is in possession of a valid commercial fishing permit issued by the Directorate Marine and Coastal Management, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998);”. Comment is due by 13 September 2013. The notice further indicates that “The diesel refund is granted in respect of eligible purchases of distillate fuel for commercial fishing vessels. The criteria required for fishing vessels to qualify are clarified to address certain interpretational concerns. The necessary commercial fishing permit is currently issued by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The permit specifies the details of the fishing vessel(s) formally nominated to catch the allocated quota. Commercial fishing vessels must be so formally nominated on a valid fishing permit to qualify for the diesel refund. The previous requirement that the master of the vessel must possess the permit, led to confusion and has been replaced. The diesel refund is in actuality granted to the qualifying fishing vessel as a commercial fishing enterprise and the master is not the intended beneficiary. The requirement for a valid commercial fishing permit should therefore be attached to the qualifying fishing vessel and not the master of the vessel. Qualifying commercial fishing vessels must therefore register as diesel refund users, and not the holders of fishing permits’. Customs Declarations On 20 August 2013 Sars announced that as part of the modernisation of customs which took place on 17 August 2013 there was a new process for printing of hardcopy notifications. According to Sars, when a hardcopy is needed you need to do the following: (i) The agent should present a printed copy of the Customs declaration or release notification to a Customs office; (ii) The Customs Officer confirms release of the goods on the Service Manager Dashboard by entering the Local Reference Number (LRN) number; (iii) The Customs Officer makes a screen print of the dashboard page and hands that over to the agent; and (iv) The agent presents both documents to the release authority in order to get the goods released. Sars announced that release authorities, and in particular shipping lines and operators, were advised to accept this as an authorised release until further notice.
