New Sars registration programme could kick off in April

Traders across South
Africa should prepare
for the kick-off of the
new customs legislation
registration programme by
April this year.
While an official date
has yet to be confirmed by
the South African Revenue
Service, indications are
that it could be as soon as
April.
According to a customs
specialist, the new
legislation requires all
companies that deal with
customs in any way to
register and license with
Sars on its new online
portal.
“Even if you are
registered with customs
you will be required to
re-register. Currently a
host of documents has
to be handed in to Sars
manually, but the new
process will allow industry
to upload the documents
electronically and will be
far more user-friendly.”
This was highlighted
by several companies
who said the registration
process in its current form
was tedious and difficult.
Companies are required
to register every year for
operation in the coming
year.
“There is no check list
for what documents are
required and one has to
physically go to customs
for the process. At the same
time they only processed
ten registrations a day
during December,” said
one freight forwarder. “So
not only did you have to try
to be one of the ten on the
day – but you could find
that not all the documents
are in place when you
finally get to the front of
the queue.”
This will change with
the new process as not only
will a clear outline be given
of what is required for
registration and licensing
but it can also be done
online. The ability to
register manually
will still be available.
According to Mike
Walwyn, chairman of the
Cape Port Liaison Forum,
there is still some hesitancy
over the registration
process. “This is mostly
because no one really
knows what to expect when
this process finally
starts. It has been 12
years since the start
of the new customs
legislation process.
It is understandable
that there is
uncertainty.”
He said
what was
encouraging was the
commitment from both
Sars and industry to work
through teething problems
together.
“It is clear that there
is a lot of collaboration
with a new working
group recently being
launched by Sars that sees
stakeholders from across
the spectrum working on
the introduction of the new
legislation.”