PRETORIA, Wednesday 22 January 2020 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will celebrate International Customs Day (ICD) this weekend by honouring the men and women in its Customs division. Whilst the core focus of Customs offices is to manage ports of entries and facilitate travellers and traders, sadly there is a proliferation of illicit and criminal activity that requires Customs to remain vigilant in combatting this scourge.

It is estimated that illicit trade results in losses to the fiscus of billions of rands every year.

SARS Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, has committed the organisation to work closely with other government agencies to stamp out the illicit trade in clothing and textiles, leather and footwear, precious metals and scrap metal, second hand vehicles, fuel and cigarettes because of its disastrous consequences for our economy and our people. He said:  “The losses in tax revenue and the negative impact on our domestic economy affects industries, erodes employment opportunities and generally denies the most vulnerable in society the social and economic well-being they deserve”.

SARS has found that importers or exporters in these sectors specifically are using various ways to avoid paying the import or export duties, as well as Value-Added Tax (VAT), that apply to the goods, which in turn impacts on the amount of revenue that SARS is able to collect for the growth and development of our country.

Another negative impact of illicit trade is the erosion of productive capacity in the country as goods are imported rather than produced locally. This in turn leads to job losses which aggravate already high levels of poverty and inequality.

That is why the Clothing and Textile industry, in particular, is a key focus area for SARS. Under-declaration of Customs value in this sector has increased from R5.2 billion in 2014 to R8.52 billion in 2018, with the under-declared Customs value in 2017 and 2018 representing 34% and 35% of the declared Customs value respectively. Some of the cases of non-compliance that Customs has come across recently in this area include declaring complete garments at values as low as 0.02 US cents, excess cargo (in one case, more than 80% of a container was not declared), fictitious importers’ addresses and misclassification of goods.

SARS forms part of an inter-agency working group with the DTI and Treasury, focusing amongst others on the Clothing Textile Leather and Footwear Industry. The working group is already seeing a number of successes since it was established last year. Within the first month of the project, Customs issued 20 letters of intent to seize goods from traders who were found to be non-compliant in terms of value, quantity, classification, licensing and registration. The potential loss to the fiscus of these intended seizures amount to about R20 million.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, who will attend the ICD event, on Friday has pledged his full support for the important work of SARS in this regard.

A media statement with more information will be released on Friday following an event to be held by SARS to celebrate International Customs Day.

Employers

SARS wishes to thank those compliant employers who have carried out all their tax obligations as agents for SARS, in terms of our country’s tax legislation,

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High call volumes

The SARS Contact Centre is experiencing high call volumes today. Taxpayers are advised to use the call back option and an agent will call the taxpayer back.

eFiling downtime

Due to ongoing maintenance, eFiling may not be available on Wednesday, 16 October 2019, from 19:00 to 20:00. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

COVID-19 precautions

SARS has announced that it has taken precautionary measures at SARS branches and ports of entry in response to risk of infection from the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19),

Standerton Branch

Due to power maintenance issues, the branch will be closed today, 11 March 2020. Our apologies for the convenience.

Pay all tax due by 31 March

It’s crunch time. To avoid penalties and interest, submit outstanding tax returns now and pay all tax due by 31 March,

Court findings

SARS has noted that the High Court has found in favour of SARS in the matter between the Commissioner and the Public Protector regarding the subpoena,

Digital filing

Filing a tax return on any of the digital platforms, namely, SARS MobiApp and eFiling platforms for non-provisional taxpayers will close on 04 December,

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Job seekers do not need tax reference numbers

SARS does not require a person to have a tax number when employed for the first time. Employers need to register employees for income tax online,

Mobile Tax Units

Find out where our mobile units are and see our tax workshops to learn more about tax,

Single registration

Allows taxpayers to register, maintain and view associated tax and customs registrations in a consolidated tax profile,

No more TCC printing

The Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) cannot be printed anymore. Obtain your Tax Compliance Status (TCS) via a pin on eFiling,

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Trade Statistics

SARS released trade statistics for December 2019 recording a trade surplus of R14.85 billion attributable to exports of R103.31 billion and imports of R88.47 billion,

Smart modern revenue authority

SARS has embarked on a journey to reimagine a future revenue authority,

High call volumes

The SARS Contact Centre is experiencing high call volumes today. Taxpayers are advised to use the call back option and an agent will call the taxpayer back.

eFiling downtime

Intermittent downtime will be experienced on eFiling from 17:00 to 23:00 on Friday, 6 December, due to ongoing maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience.

eFiling downtime

Due to ongoing maintenance, eFiling may not be available on Wednesday, 16 October 2019, from 19:00 to 20:00. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

Beware of scams

The latest SARS phishing scam pretends to be a letter of demand from SARS. Do not click on any links that will ask personal details, see the Scam Alert webpage for examples,

Job seekers do not need tax reference numbers

SARS does not require a person to have a tax number when employed for the first time. Employers need to register employees for income tax online,

Trusts enhancements

If you saved the existing ITR12T between 1 July and 14 October 2019 and then continue on or after 14 October, you will be presented with a few options,

Digital filing

Filing a tax return on any of the digital platforms, namely, SARS MobiApp and eFiling platforms for non-provisional taxpayers will close on 04 December,

R1-billion tax evasion case

SARS welcomes the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal that ended the protracted dispute with Africa Cash & Carry,

Have you received an SMS from SARS?

Have you received an SMS from SARS with your simulated calculation?

Mobile Tax Units

Find out where our mobile units are and see our tax workshops to learn more about tax,

No more TCC printing

The Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) cannot be printed anymore. Obtain your Tax Compliance Status (TCS) via a pin on eFiling,

eFiling & MobiApp

SARS has introduced enhancements to both the SARS eFiling and MobiApp platforms for both taxpayers and tax practitioners,

Single registration

Allows taxpayers to register, maintain and view associated tax and customs registrations in a consolidated tax profile,

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT

NATIONAL TREASURY AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE

ON THE RELEASE OF THE 12TH ANNUAL EDITION OF TAX STATISTICS

PRETORIA, FRIDAY 20 DECEMBER 2019 – National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service have published the 12th annual edition of the Tax Statistics.

The 2019 edition provides an overview of tax revenue collections and tax return information for the 2015 to 2018 tax years, as well as the 2014/15 to 2018/19 fiscal years.

The 2018 technical recession led to a slow growth in revenue collections, which culminated in a downward revision of revenue targets.  Whilst revenues generated from the tax system move in tandem with the economy, on average, the growth in tax revenues has been higher than economic growth. Key points in the 2019 edition are:

• Tax revenue collected amounted to R1 287.7 billion, growing year-on-year by R71.2 billion (5.9%), mainly supported by Personal Income Tax (PIT) which grew by R30.9 billion (6.7%):
• Personal Income Tax (PIT) at 38.3%, Corporate Income Tax (CIT) at 16.6% and Value-added Tax (VAT) at 25.2%, in aggregate remain the largest sources of tax revenue and comprise about 80.1% of total tax revenue collections.
• Nominal tax revenue grew at a compound annual growth rate of 6.9% for the period 2014/15 to 2018/19. The tax-to-GDP ratio has increased marginally from 25.5% in 2014/15 to 26.2% in 2018/19 (increase of 0.65 percentage points).
• In Chapter 2: PIT, geographic and demographic analysis of the assessments of the taxpayers who had been assessed as at the end of August 2019 showed some interesting results:
• 2 680 449 (54.5%) of assessed taxpayers were male taxpayers; 2 236 580 (45.5%) were female;
• 1 342 511 (27.3%) of assessed taxpayers were aged 35 to 44 years; and
• 1 976 674 (40.2%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng, of which 636 460 lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R446 838.
• Statistics in Chapter 3 regarding CIT reveal that out of the 814 151 companies assessed as at the end of August 2019 for tax year 2017, 24.3% had positive taxable income. Furthermore 48.3% had taxable income equal to zero and the remaining 27.4% reported an assessed loss;
• Chapter 4 indicates that in 2018/19, 77.2% of active VAT vendors were companies or close corporations. They contributed 92.3% to Domestic VAT payments and accounted for 90.4% of VAT refunds. Although individuals (sole proprietors) comprised 17.3% of VAT vendors, they contributed 3.0% of Domestic VAT payments and received 1.3% of VAT refunds.
• As detailed in Chapter 5, Import VAT and Customs Duties recorded higher growth rates in 2018/19 compared to 2017/18. They accounted for 13.6% and 4.3% of the year’s Total Tax Revenue respectively, resulting in a 17.9% aggregate, which was in line with the average over the preceding five years. The share of these taxes to GDP rose to 4.7% from the preceding five-year average of 4.6%, with Import VAT recording 3.6% and Customs Duties at 1.1% for 2018/19.
• Import VAT from the top 3 contributing economic sectors made up 87.8% of the total, namely the Wholesale and Retail Trade, Catering and Accommodation sector (Tertiary) at 40.0%, followed by Manufacturing (Secondary) at 30.1% and Financial Intermediation, Insurance, Real-Estate and Business Services (Tertiary) at 17.7%.
• The overall effective Customs Duty rate in 2018/19 was 3.1% compared to previous year’s 3.2%. Key commodities with the highest effective Duty rates were Footwear and Accessories at 24.4%; Hides, Skins and Leather at 19.4%; Textiles and Clothing at 15.8%; Food, Beverages and Tobacco at 11.4% as well as Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels at 7.6%.
• Finally, Chapter 6: Other Taxes and Collections provide information about taxes such as Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Transfer Duty, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty (MPRR), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) payments and Diesel refunds. In 2018/19, CGT of R17.9 billion was raised of which R9.5 billion was attributable to individuals and trusts and R8.3 billion to companies. This shows a marginal increase of R249 million (1.4%) on the R17.6 billion raised in 2017/18. An aggregate of R142.6 billion has been raised since the introduction of CGT in October 2001.

  The 2019 Tax Statistics documents are available on the SARS Tax Statistics webpage and National Treasury website at www.treasury.gov.za.

  SARS and National Treasury welcome public comments and suggestions to continue to enhance the publication’s utility in policy evaluation, and developing new insights in South Africa’s social and economic context. These can be provided via e-mail to taxstatistics@sars.gov.za.

Enquiries:  SARS Media sarsmedia@sars.gov.za and National Treasury Communications Unit media@treasury.gov.za or call 012 315 5000.

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END

DURBAN, Friday 29 November 2019 – Customs officials of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) began destroying several illegally imported vehicles and clothing valued at over R7-million in Durban earlier today in a bid to clamp down on illegal imports that harm the economy.

Over 13 000  bales of illegally imported clothing, valued at R6,75-million, as well as 15  vehicles, valued at a total of R450 000.00, will be destroyed.

According to SARS Customs Executive Mr Patrick Moeng,  SARS Customs has destroyed 11 514 bales of clothing and footwear valued R2,5-million and 57 vehicles valued at R7,1-million since 1 April this year.

He said Illegal trade takes place through various mechanisms. This includes smuggling (bringing goods into the country undetected, or exporting them undetected), fraudulent shipment of goods via a third country to take advantage of preferential import duties and falsely declaring goods under tariff headings that do not attract high duties, amongst others.

Recently, a high-level inter-governmental task team was established between the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI), International Trade and Administration Commission (ITAC) and SARS to tackle illicit trade, with a focus on clothing, textiles, leather and footwear, scrap metals and gold.

SARS as a member of this task team has been working intensively in three key provinces with the highest import volumes in clothing and textiles. The provinces are Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Mr Moeng said the devastating impact of illegal imports includes the following:

• import duties and value added tax (VAT) due to SARS are not paid, which is a loss to the fiscus
• distorts the local economy in the affected value chain
• a decline in the country’s ability to manufacture goods locally
• job losses, particularly in the manufacturing sector
• contravention of intellectual property rights
• discourage local companies to innovate in these sectors
• the fuelling of corruption through these illegal activities.

Mr Moeng added that illegal imports also pose a significant health risk for consumers through the availability of under-priced and unregulated cigarettes that conflicts with government’s health policy.

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