Customs

On 07 March the South African Revenue Service (Sars) acting senior manager: trade administration Zanemvula Miza, issued the following letter to external stakeholders under the title “Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Submission of Vouchers of Correction and Declaration of Determination Numbers and Proofs of Origin for Refund Purposes”.
In terms of Government Notice R.814 dated 31 July 2009 declarations including vouchers of correction (VOC) must be submitted electronically on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) as from 01 August 2009. It has been noted that some clients still submit vouchers of correction for refund purposes through the manual process instead of the prescribed electronic (EDI) process. All EDI clients registered with Sars who wish to submit refund claims must submit vouchers of correction electronically. Manual VOCs will be rejected.
It has further been noted that in instances where a determination number was issued, in accordance with the provisions of Sections 65 and 47(9) of the Customs and Excise Act No. 91 of 1964 and the relevant Rules thereto, prior to import clearances, that some clients do not insert such a determination number on the import declarations, as required.
We have also noticed that many proofs of origin (EUR.1, SADC certificates of origin and invoice declarations) that were issued before importation are only declared after import clearances have been made, resulting in unnecessary refund applications. Kindly note that these certificates must be declared at the time of import clearance for home consumption as contemplated in Rules 49A.20 (22) (a), 49B.10 (9)7(a) and 49D. 22 (24)(a) to the Customs and Excise Act No. 91 of 1964.
As from 12 March 2012 penalties will be imposed where clients do not declare their proofs of origin as explained above, as well as in cases where determination numbers are inserted on vouchers of correction for refund purposes and not on the import declaration at time of clearance when available”.