Legal Counsel – Secondary Legislation – Tariff Amendments 2023
5 May 2023 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment notice R.3372, as published in Government Gazette 48518 of 5 May 2023, are now available.
eFiling upgrade on 6 May 2023
5 May 2023 – Achieving our Vision 2024 of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms & technology infrastructure. In order to provide clarity & certainty, make it easy for taxpayers & traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets have to demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security. Pursuant to our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms & technology infrastructure are available, robust & secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.
In the light of the above, system upgrades are scheduled for Saturday, 6 May 2023 from:
- 05:00 until 10:00 (am). During this time eFiling will be intermittently available.
- 20:00 until 23:00 (pm). During this time, various eFiling services may not be available.
Media release – SARS conducts raid at an unregistered warehouse
5 May 2023 –Members of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) conducted a raid on an unauthorised warehouse in Vryburg, North-West yesterday, 4 May 2023, confiscating millions of rands worth of illegally manufactured alcohol and bitcoin mining equipment.
The warehouse was used to illegally connect the crypto currency mining equipment to the town’s electrical power supply. It was also used to manufacture 14 617 bottles of duty-free liquor and popular local brands.
Legal Counsel – Secondary Legislation – Tariff Amendments 2023
4 May 2023 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendment notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the amendments to –
- Part 2 of Schedule No. 4, by the insertion of rebate item 460.16/8415.10.10/01.08, in order to provide for a rebate of the duty payable in Schedule No. 1 Part 1 for air-conditioning machines having a rated cooling capacity not exceeding 8,8 kilowatts, classifiable in tariff subheading 8415.10.10 – ITAC Report 681.
Publication details will be made available later
Legal Counsel Publications – Tables of Interest Rates
4 May 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962: Tables of Interest Rates
- Table 1 – Interest rates on outstanding taxes and interest rates payable on certain refunds of tax
- Table 2 – Interest rates payable on credit amounts
Beware of SARS scam via Telegram
4 May 2023 – Please be aware of scammers pretending to be from SARS engaging people through a Telegram group to pay tax through a merchant, with the promise of a subsequent refund and commission/salary. It seems a TikTok video is advertising opportunities to make money, and if people link themselves, they are added to a Telegram group. Please stay safe and vigilant, don’t click on any suspicious links or subscribe to ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes.
See the detail of this Telegram scam here or keep an eye on the Latest Scams webpage.
SARS Third Party Data platforms – planned maintenance
3 May 2023 – Please note that the SARS Third Party Data production platforms for both Secure File Gateway and Connect:Direct will be temporarily offline for planned maintenance between 03:00am and 06:00am on Saturday 6 May 2023. Please do not submit any files in the Production environment during this time, as they will not be processed.
Media release – How SARS has changed tax compliance status reporting for transferring funds abroad
3 May 2023 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) wishes to provide an update with respect to the matter of Tax Compliance Status. As the previous Tax Compliance Status (TCS) solution had been operational since April 2016 and processed substantial and growing volumes of taxpayers requesting 3rd party verification requests, including Foreign Investment Allowance and Emigration, there was need for an enhancement to the system to rationalise and speed it up. In addition, following the announcement of the abolition of emigration as an exchange control concept in 2020, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has removed the requirement to apply to emigrate financially (the MP336 application). This has necessitated changes to SARS’ processes and forms.
The enhanced TCS system was introduced on 24 April 2023 following consultations with authorised dealers and the SARB. It supports the strategic objectives of SARS to make it easier for taxpayers to comply.
Media statement on the impounded truck with illicit cigarettes
2 May 2023 – The law enforcement team comprising of South African Revenue Service, South African Police Service and the Tshwane Metro Police acting on a tip-off intercepted a truck carrying illicit cigarettes at Bronkhorstspruit on the early hours of Monday, 1 May 2023.
The illicit cigarettes were imported through Beit Bridge where they were falsely declared as tea leaves. The truck was stopped at Bronkhorstspruit. On being approached, the driver fled the scene and the truck and its consignment was detained.
Media release – Trade Statistics for March 2023
28 April 2023 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R6.9 billion in March 2023. This surplus is attributable to exports of R192.2 billion and imports of R185.3 billion.
See the Media Release – March 2023 here.
Visit the Trade Statistics webpages.
e@syFile™ Employer AA88 system enhancements
26 April 2023 – Changes have been made to the e@syFile™ Employer AA88 system to enhance and fix some of the issues that have been identified in the system.
The following enhancements have been made:
- Improvement and fixes to the “delta” synchronisation process when users synchronise using an existing production database
- A new function to clear all previous AA88 data to do a new full synchronisation
- The unique AA88 Transaction Number was added as new filter and search option
- The status code “07’ for defaulted transactions will be grouped with Inactive status codes, “04” and “09”
- Fix applied to Assessed Tax AA88 duplication check
The Third Party Appointment AA88 e@syFile guide has been updated.
Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list
24 April 2023 – Updated: Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list.
Tariff heading 0302.84 does not require Import Permit from Plant Inspector.
Dispute Resolution
24 April 2023 – Dispute Resolution Enhancements
Over the past weekend SARS released system enhancements to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in resolving tax disputes. These enhancements will also ensure that only the tax in dispute is considered for suspension of payment.
The most significant system changes to be implemented include:
- Calculation of disputed amount: On submission of an appeal the calculation of the value of the amount disputed will be automated. This will reduce the time taken in internal allocations, improve the accuracy of suspensions of payment and assist internal reporting on disputed debt.
- Updating taxpayer contacts: Taxpayers will now be able to amend their contact details for purposes of their tax dispute on eFiling. This will facilitate earlier engagement by SARS and allow taxpayer to include the contact details of their representative chosen for purposes of resolving the tax dispute.
- Request for Remission: The request for remission functionality has been extended to include remission requests for provisional underestimation penalties levied in terms of paragraph 20(1) of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962. This functionality is now aligned to the applicable legislation.
- Request for Reasons: New automated Request for Reasons outcome letters have been implemented. Previously if SARS agreed that reasons for the assessment had to be supplied, manual letters were issued.
- Objections: Where SARS requires additional substantiating documents to enable it to consider an objection, it is now able to issue up to three (3) requests to the taxpayer for the supply of the requested documents. This will ensure that most of the dispute related information gathering is done during the objections phase of a tax dispute.
- Appeals: Automated letters have been introduced for appeals administration for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) have been implemented as follows:
- Notice confirming that an appeal is suitable for ADR;
- Notice extending the period of ADR proceedings;
- Notice terminating the ADR proceedings; and
- Notice confirming the outcome of an appeal.
In addition to the above various internal processes have been streamlined to reduce resolution times of especially appeals in ADR proceedings. The enhancements to taxpayer contact details and automated notices will greatly improve communication with taxpayers.
Pivotal to the delivery of SARS’ Vision 2024 are our digital platforms & technology infrastructure. These enhancements will aid in providing clarity & certainty and make it easy for taxpayers & traders to comply with their obligations.
