On 26 April 2021, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced the release of its “External Refunds and Drawbacks Policy”. According to its release, the Customs Procedure Code (CPC) and refund or drawback item must appear in the appropriate fields on the export declaration before goods are exported, if the exporter wants to apply for such a refund or drawback.
However, the refund or drawback item may be amended or inserted, or a CPC can be amended while the goods are still under Customs control or if exceptional circumstances as prescribed in Note 8 to Schedule 5 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 are approved by Legislative Policy, Customs and Excise. The following annexures to the policy were replaced: the Completion of CR1, the Completion of DA63, the Completion of DA64 and the Completion of DA66.
The ”Summary of Main Points” of the “External Refunds and Drawbacks Policy” reads:
(a) The South African Revenue Service (SARS) provides for the refund and drawback of duties and taxes on goods. SARS allows clients to apply for a Customs refund or drawback on duties and taxes within a time period prescribed within Sections 75 and 76 read together with Section 76B of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964. This document encapsulates the refund and drawback legal requirements, processing, requirements, and timeframes allowed.
(b) Refunds are paid in respect of duty or levy overpaid, or where goods are exported in the same condition as they are imported.
(c) Drawbacks are paid in respect of specified materials used in the manufacture, processing, packing, etc., of goods that are subsequently exported.
(d) The onus is on the applicant to ensure that the correct forms and supporting documents are attached
before submitting the Refund / drawback application to SARS. The reason(s) provided by the
applicant must be specific and adequately set out in the application.
(e) Customs duty and taxes paid on goods, having been imported contrary to the provisions of any law,
will not be refunded.
(f) Amended Customs clearance declarations (CCDs) that result in a refund, which are lodged via electronic data interchange (EDI), do not require the manual submission of the refund application forms. However, all amended CCDs will automatically request the submission of supporting documentation - see SC-CF-55 on the method to submit supporting documents and SC-DT-C-13-A01 on which supporting documents are required.
(g) The following are excluded from this document:
(i) The completion of forms DA 66, DA 64, DA 63 and CR 1 are covered in SC-DT-C-13-A08, SCDT-C-13-A09, SC-DT-C-13-A10 and SC-DT-C-13-A11 respectively.
(ii) Excise refunds or drawbacks (SE-REF-02);
(iii) Traveller refunds are prescribed in SC-PA-01-11;
(iv) Deferment – External Policy (SC-DT-B-02);
(v) Payment Rules – External Guide (GEN-PAYM-01-G01); and
(vi) Customs eAccount on eFiling - External Manual (CA-01-M01).
The Policy is available on request.
Story by: Riaan de Lange