On 14 January 2016 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced the extension of the comment period for the draft amendment to the Rules to the Customs and Excise Act for functional sealed counters for tobacco manufacturing equipment to 31 January 2016.
Tobacco Equipment Rule – Final opportunity
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) invited comment on the insertion of Rule 110.01 to the Act which read ‘(a) The production quantities of any tobacco manufacturing equipment shall be determined by means of a sealed counter attached to such equipment as the Controller may require at the licensee’s expense.; (b) If for any reason the production quantities of any tobacco manufacturing equipment cannot be determined as prescribed in subparagraph (a), an alternative methodology approved by the Commissioner may be used.’
According to Sars, to improve the operational information available to it for anti-illicit tobacco excise enforcement, all tobacco manufacturing equipment is required to be fitted with functional sealed counters. Production quantities for each tobacco manufacturing plant shall be determined by means of these counters that will be sealed by Sars officials at the expense of the manufacturer.