A warning from Taryn
Hunkin, customs paralegal
with Durban lawyers
Shepstone & Wylie, for
members of the freight and
trade industries who may
wish to licence or register
with SA Revenue Service
(Sars).
“At the end of April,
Sars introduced a new
DA185 form, and your
readers should be aware
that they are no longer
accepting the old forms,”
she said. “So if any of them
are considering making
application to Sars for
licensing or registration,
they must use the new
DA185 form published on
the Sars website.”
The changes in the
document seem to be
mostly cosmetic, Hunkin
added, with the primary
changes in the new
document being:
• the amendment to
section 1 of the form
now called “Notes for the
Completion of the DA185
and its Annexures”;
• the substitution of the
“Client Types” section with
an “Annexures” section;
and
• additional supporting
documents called for in
section 13.
The primary change
in the new document is
the substitution of an
“Annexures” section –
reflecting the different
types of licences and
registrations available – for
the “Client Types” section
in the old DA 185 form.
Hunkin also pointed out
that: “In terms of Sections
59A and 60 of the Customs
& Excise Act 91 of 1964,
anyone wishing to conduct
business with Sars as,
for example, an importer,
exporter, remover of goods
in bond etc, must complete
and submit the prescribed
application forms (the
DA185) and the relevant
annexes.”
Another point worth
bearing in mind, she
added, is: “While
completing the relevant
forms is relatively easy,
compiling the necessary
supporting documents can
be cumbersome and timeconsuming.
Applicants
must be reminded that Sars
only accepts either original
documents or certified
copies and the supporting
documents are only valid
for a period of three
months.”
This latter statement
refers, for example, to the
fixed telephone numbers
of the applicant company.
Usually, when the Telkom
account is certified, it will
be stamped with the date of
certification.
Now, when you submit
this as a supporting
document, you must be
sure that this date is
sufficiently recent to allow
Sars to go through its
rather lengthy approval
procedure, in both your
company’s home city and
Pretoria.
Fail to allow enough
time, and you will be faced
with the onerous task of
going through the whole
application process again.
INSERT
‘Compiling the
necessary supporting
documents can be
cumbersome and
time-consuming.’
