ROAD HAULIERS have blamed South African Revenue Services (SARS) for border post delays, accusing them of ignoring commitments made to the industry.
Says Costa Pierides, manager, technical and regulatory affairs of the Road Freight Association: At the same time corruption continues at customs points, and I defy any official to stand up and say it is not happening, he says.
The implementation on the ground of undertakings which SARS made are simply not happening. There are things that should have been done a long time ago. Frankly the objective of the new VAT regulations was to make everything easier, but the situation is now worse.
SARS promised the association that a letter would be sent to all border posts granting exemption on returned goods up to a certain value, but this they have not done. As a result operators are constantly harassed by customs officials wanting VAT to be paid.
These are not the round-trippers who have been abusing the law, but are persons handling legitimate transactions, says Pierides. They are returning goods that do not meet the specifications of the customer across the border, but you can't tell the customs officer that unless he is advised from head office.
Then there is the situation concerning the CCA1 forms which were intended to serve as an audit trail under VAT regulations. The original form was drawn up and approved 18 months ago. Instead SARS had another form gazetted towards the end of last year, a form which had been rejected by the industry. Now we have two forms in operation and they are creating major headaches.
On the subject of corruption at border posts, Pierides says it is no secret among transport operators that bribes and 'understandings' are rife. Legitimate operators often find they are pushed aside when arriving at a post in the last half-hour before closing time, forced to stop overnight, and then pushed back in the queue the next morning with preference given to 'those who have a few rands in their document packets', according to Pierides.
At the outset the RFA requested SARS to consider profiling regular payers so that they would enjoy a more streamlined system at border posts. Our call to SARS was 'don't harass the guy who has always played ball with the receiver'.
But the profile promise has never transpired. All we get these days is rhetoric, more and more meetings, and chirp, chirp, chirp. But no positive and desirable action.
Problems differ from one border post to another he says, with Botswana one of the main offenders, especially in the VAT implementation arena. Swaziland is providing its share of difficulties, but matters at Lebombo are mainly on the Mozambique side of operations.
l See SARS comment on page 11.
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