On 19 March 2025, the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) announced the release of the letter of its Director: Customs Border Operations, Ports of Entry, Customs & Excise Compliance, to External Stakeholders, dated 11 March 2025.
The letter, titled “Invoice Details on Customs Declarations”, reads:
Following a period of engagement, development, and testing with industry and technical service providers, SARS requests that trade now include invoice data in all electronic customs declarations submitted to SARS.
As of 01 April 2025, customs declarations not containing invoice data will have an increased probability of being selected for documentary inspection or audit and of such declarants being requested to upload invoices as supporting documentation.
I wish to thank everyone for their commitment to digitalisation, efficiency and transparency as we continue to expand the use of data in Customs to better balance compliance and trade facilitation.