On 19 November 2021, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced an amendment to Note
6 to Section C in Part 1 of Schedule No.6 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 “Refunds and Rebates of Excise Duties, Fuel Levy and Environmental Levy: Rebates and Refunds of Specific Excise Duties: Rebates and Refunds of Specific Excise Duties on Wine and Other Fermented Beverages (Excluding Beer Made From Malt and Traditional African Beer), Mixtures of Fermented Beverages and Mixtures of Fermented Beverages and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Not Elsewhere Specified or Included” to provide more clarity to clients on the legal requirements for the relevant refund items.
Note 6(a)(i) in Section C to Part 1 of Schedule No.6 to the Act, 1964 has been substituted with the following:
(i) Wine, vermouth and other fermented beverages which are off-specification or have become contaminated or have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration may, subject to Note 8, be returned to a customs and excise special manufacturing warehouse (SVM) for destruction or reprocessing, only if such products are found to be off-specification, contaminated or have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration within a period of 12 months after removal from the SVM and that the goods are returned to such SVM within this period.
Note 6(b)(i)(bb) in Section C to Part 1 of Schedule No.6 to the Act, 1964 has been substituted with the following:
(bb) unpacked, where applicable, and transferred to and mixed with stocks of materials for reprocessing, under supervision of an officer; or
Note 6(d) in Section C to Part 1 of Schedule No.6 to the Act, 1964 hs been substituted with the following:
(d) The licensee of such warehouse may, after reprocessing or destruction of the products concerned, and on accounting for the goods reprocessed or destroyed in the monthly account, prescribed in the rules for section 20, set-off as contemplated in section 77, any amount duly refundable against the amount payable on such account during a period of two years after receipt of the goods for reprocessing or destruction, as the case may be.