On 04 September the South African Revenue Service (SARS) released its “Taxation in South Africa – 2019”, which is a general guide providing an overview of the most significant tax legislation administered in South Africa by the Commissioner for the SARS, and covers amongst other the Customs and Excise Act, the Value-Added Tax Act; and the Tax Administration Act.
This guide is not an “official publication” as defined in section 1 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 and accordingly does not create a practice generally prevailing under section 5 of that Act. According to SARS it should, therefore, not be used as a legal reference. It is also not a binding general ruling under section 89 of Chapter 7 of the Tax Administration Act. Should an advance tax ruling be required, visit the SARS website for details of the application procedure.
The chapter on “Customs”, Chapter 12 covers 12.1 Introduction; 12.2 Trade agreements; 12.3 Duties; 12.3.1 Customs duty; 12.3.2 Excise duties and levies; 12.4 Value-added tax on imported goods; 12.5 Customs value; 12.6 Clearance declarations; 12.6.1 Rebates allowed on importation of goods;12.7 Persons entering South Africa; 12.7.1 Goods imported without the payment of customs duty and which are exempt from VAT; (a) Goods imported by persons who are not residents of South Africa; (b) Goods imported by persons who are residents of South Africa; (c) Limits on certain goods; (d) Children under 18 years of age; (e) Crew members; 12.8 Declarations on single administrative document; 12.9 Goods accepted at appointed places of entry; 12.10 Cargo entering South Africa; 12.11 State warehouses;12.12 Importation of household effects by immigrants or returning residents; 12.13 Motor vehicles; and 12.14 Motor vehicles imported on a temporary basis.
The Chapter on “Excise duties and levies”, Chapter 13 covers 13.1 Specific excise duties (Part 2A of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); 13.2 Ad valorem excise duties (Part 2B of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); 13.3 General fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy (Parts 5A and 5B of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); 13.4 Environmental levy; (a) Plastic bags (Part 3A of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); (b) Non-renewable electricity generation (Part 3B of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); (c) Electric filament lamps (Part 3C of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); (d) Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of motor vehicles (Part 3D of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); (e) Tyre environmental levy (Part 3E of Schedule 1 to the Customs and Excise Act); 13.5 Health Promotion Levy.
Story by: Riaan de Lange