In a letter dated 15 March 2011 headed ”Enhancements To Passenger Processing At South African Ports Of Entry”, the Executive: Customs Modernisation of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) made the following announcement: We would like to bring to your attention two major changes that took place on 01 March 2011 with regards to Sars’ Passenger Processing System: (a) New Rebate provisions came into effect. Duty-free allowances for travellers were increased from R3 000 to R5 000 and for crew members from R500 to R700. The flat rate allowance for travellers was increased from R12 000 to R20 000, while that of crew members remained the same at R2 000. These amendments to the Rebate and Value-added Tax (VAT) exemption Item were published in the Government Gazette and came into effect on 01 March 2011. (b) The old DA331 form was enhanced to include the DA307 and DA308 (Temporary Import Permit) and DA65 (Registration of Goods for Re-Importation). The DA65 will no longer be used for travellers and will now only be used to register goods for re-importation, temporarily exported on a SAD 500 declaration. This means that travellers will have to register their goods for re-importation on the enhanced DA331 (Traveller Declaration). However, South African citizens travelling with South African-registered vehicles will no longer have to register their vehicles for re-importation. The biggest advantage of these changes to travellers is that fewer forms need to be filled in and it will mean less time spent queuing at the borders. The DA331 form is available at ports of entry and Customs will consider ad hoc specific requests received from stakeholders for the issuance of DA331 forms in bulk to allow pre-arrival completion.
