The South African
Revenue Service (Sars) is
“aggressively” deploying
and developing strategies
to crack down on a
growing illicit trade
problem, according to
Sars commissioner, Tom
Moyane.
Delivering the keynote
address at the South
African Association of
Freight Forwarders’ (Saaff)
congress held in Durban
earlier this month, Moyane
noted that there was an
estimated annual loss in
revenue of R4.5-R6 billion
due to the smuggling of
contraband cigarettes
alone.
“Furthermore,
undervaluation of highduty
items – such as textiles
and clothing – remains
prevalent as importers
seek to evade paying 45%
duty,” he said. According to
Moyane, imports of these
commodities totalled R34.9
billion but the annual
loss of revenue in clothing
imports alone could amount
to around R9 billion.
Some of the Sars
initiatives include
new integrated border
management tools, such
as the new cargo scanners
in Durban and Cape
Town, upping the revenue
authority’s inspection
capabilities and conducting
more retail inspections.
Moyane pointed out
that in the last financial
year Sars had collected
R1.9 billion in VAT and
duties from non-compliant
traders.
With illicit trade in
cigarettes being the biggest
scourge, Sars has focused
its efforts with several
new initiatives, including
increasing its supervision
of cigarettes exported via
warehouses and improving
the manual tracking
of cigarettes in transit
through South Africa.
“We are also working
with tobacco industry
experts to develop a way of
detecting illicit products
and we are improving
authentication markings on
cigarettes,” said Moyane.
CAPTION
Tom Moyane.
