On 20 May the South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced an amendment to Part 2 of Schedule No.5 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 “Specific Drawbacks and Refunds of Customs Duties, Fuel Levy and Environmental Levy”, by the insertion of Refund Item 522.02/22.00/01.04 and Note 7, to provide for a Refund Item for certain alcoholic beverages that have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (Expired Stock). The tariff amendments are imposed with retrospective effect from 15 March 2019.
The tariff amendments read:
By the insertion of the following Note(s) after Note 6(b) in Part 2 of Schedule No. 5:
7. Refund item 522.02/22.00 shall apply, to alcoholic beverages which have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (expired stock) as a result of a total ban on the selling of alcohol as published by Notice in the Government Gazette, implemented during the national state of disaster declared in terms of section 27(1) of the National Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002), by Government Notice No. 313 of 15 March 2020, and are returned to the original importer of the goods for destruction, only if such goods are found to have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (expired stock) within a period of 12 months after importation and the goods are returned to such importer within this period, provided that -
(a) this item shall only apply in respect of the following alcoholic beverages returned to the importer in the originally sealed containers: (i) Beer made from malt of heading 22.03; (ii) Other fermented beverages (for example, cider, perry, mead, sake), mixtures of fermented beverages and mixtures of fermented beverages and non-alcoholic beverages, not elsewhere specified or included of heading 22.06; and (iii) Spirituous beverages of subheading 2208.90.
(b)(i) A written application must be submitted to request approval for the destruction of alcoholic beverages which have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (expired stock) and approval must be granted prior to destruction; (ii) The granting of such approval is subject to proof of payment of duties; and (iii)The granting of such approval may be subject to any other requirements the Commissioner may specify in writing.
(c) if the Commissioner approves the application, any alcoholic beverages returned in terms of this item shall be - (i) kept intact and entirely separate from any other goods or materials until they have been examined and identified by an officer; and (ii) destroyed under supervision of an officer.
(d) the importer to which such products are returned for destruction must keep a record which includes at least the following - (i) a detailed description of the goods received, including the applicable tariff item;
(ii) the quantity received; (iii) the date of receipt; (iv) the name or registered business name (if any) and the physical address of the person from whose premises the products concerned were returned; (v) the delivery note, or a credit note under cover of which such products were returned; and (vi) a copy of the original SAD 500 applicable to the importation of the products returned for destruction
By the substitution of the following Note(s) in Part 2 of Schedule No. 5:
REFUNDS OF CUSTOMS DUTIES ON GOODS EXPORTED IN THE SAME CONDITION AS IMPORTED AND IMPORTED GOODS ABANDONED OR DESTROYED
By the insertion of the following:
Refund Item: 522.02
Tariff Heading: 22.00
Code: 01.02
Description: Alcoholic beverages which, after entry for home consumption and payment of duty, have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (expired stock) and are returned to the original importer of the goods for destruction, subject to the provisions of the Notes to this Part.
Extent of Refund: full duty