What’s New at SARS

18 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 Friday, 19 May from 18:00 until 22:00. During this time eFiling will be intermittently available.

18 May 2023 – In the 2023 budget speech, the Minister of Finance announced the following tax relief measures in an effort to address the current load-shedding problem the country is facing:

“Government implemented the diesel refund system in 2000, to provide full or partial relief for the general fuel levy and the RAF levy to primary sectors. The refund system is in place for the farming, forestry, fishing, and mining sectors. In light of the current electricity crisis, a similar refund on the RAF levy for diesel used in the manufacturing process (such as for generators) will be extended to the manufacturers of foodstuffs. This will take effect from 1 April 2023, with refund payments taking place once the system is developed and will be in place for two years until 31 March 2025. This relief is implemented to limit the impact of power cuts on food prices.”

SARS will administer the new refund to the extent of 80% of the RAF levy for diesel purchased for use and used in the manufacturing of foodstuffs through the DA66 Excise Refund System. The currently manual DA66 process will be automated in the last quarter of 2023 and is separate from the diesel refund system that is administered through the VAT system by way of submitting VAT 201 returns.

For more information, see the letter to stakeholders.

17 May 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment notice R3413, as published in Government Gazette 48605 of 17 May 2023, are now available.

17 May 2023 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

17 May 2023 – SARS will be distributing a survey to taxpayers with disabilities. The survey results will assist to understand their views and to help SARS improve on its processes. If unsure whether communication from SARS is legit, see the Current Surveys, SMSs and Emails webpage.

16 May 2023 – Updated mobile tax unit schedules for KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng South

16 May 2023 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendment notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the amendments to –

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 2, by the insertion of various items under heading 204.05, in order to impose anti-dumping duties on frozen potato chips originating in or imported from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, classifiable under tariff subheadings 2004.10.21 and 2004.10.29 – ITAC Report 706.

Publication details will be made available later

16 May 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 74 (Issue 3) – Deduction and recoupment of expenditure on repairs

16 May 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note 74 (Issue 2) – Deduction and recoupment of expenditure on repairs

15 May 2023 – A new tender has been published. Click here to view the documents relating to the Acquisition of Software Asset Management Tool, Professional Services and Maintenance and Support tender.

15 May 2023 – Invitation to webinar on Third-Party Appointment and Employer Reconciliation on 18 May 2023.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) invites employers to a webinar on Third-Party Appointment and Employer Reconciliation for 2023.

A Third-Party Appointment is an official instruction from SARS to a taxpayer’s employer or fund manager to deduct admin penalties owed to SARS. Employers can use the e@syFile channel to carry out that instruction according to the SARS directive.

The aim of the webinar is to educate employers on the process mentioned above, and how to submit the employer reconciliation. This is in line with our strategic objectives of providing taxpayers with clarity and certainty, as well as making it easy for them to comply with their tax obligations.

As an important stakeholder, we invite you to join the webinar, and to extend the invitation to other interested parties.

The following topics will be covered:

• Employer Reconciliation on e@syFile and eFiling
• Third-Party Appointments on e@syFile
• PAYE Admin Penalties
• Troubleshooting and Frequently asked Questions

The details of the webinar are as follows:

• Theme:  Third-Party Appointment
• Date: Thursday, 18 May 2023
• Time: 17:00 – 19:00
• Platforms: (Virtual) Zoom and YouTube
• Register in advance for this webinar on the following link: https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mN5PHJfuQS6ngMSB9iz-fg
• Meeting ID: 951 3206 8324
• Passcode: 695872

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log in to the webinar, for an opportunity to have your questions answered during the session. The webinar will also be recorded and published on the SARSTV YouTube channel afterwards.

Or watch it live via our SARSTV YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUCbhGV01dY

12 May 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Explanatory Memorandum – Notice issued in terms of paragraph 2D of the Second Schedule, relating to tax exemption of bulking payments to former members of closed retirement funds

12 May 2023 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Notice 3356 in terms of paragraph 2D of the Second Schedule, published in Government Gazette 48487 of 3 May 2023 – Notice on tax exemption of bulking payments to former members of closed retirement funds

12 May 2023 – Mobile tax services for Mpumalanga province during May to June 2023 have been published. See the schedules here.

11 May 2023 – Updated: Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list.
Tariff heading 9028.30 now needs Letter of Authority from NRCS.

11 May 2023 – The May 2023 edition of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) Connect newsletter is now available.

11 May 2023 – SARS is committed to paying legitimate refunds to qualifying taxpayers as and when they become due. In line with this commitment in the 2022/23 financial year a record R381bn in refunds were paid of which R319bn were VAT refunds.

SARS has noticed a trend of suspicious registrations by VAT vendors. In the month of April, specifically, we saw a significant spike that required us to conduct an urgent review of our registration process. A key strategic objective and design principle of our administration platform is to provide ease of registration. This must be balanced with the risk of abuse and attempts by individuals to obtain a VAT number and claim fraudulent refunds.  We were alerted by our sophisticated risk engine that there was an unusual increase in the number of registrations, all of which were suspicious.

See the full media statement here.

10 May 2023 – SARS Procurement policy documents have been revised.

• SS-PROC-01 – SARS Supply Chain Management – External Policy
• SS-PROC-03 – SARS Preferential Procurement – External Policy

10 May 2023 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

8 May 2023 – Bulk and additional payments have been updated on eFiling. The following has changed:

The Payment Reference Number (PRN) that comes through admin penalty for the bulk payment will be rejected if it is processed incorrectly –

• • When the zeroes (0) or just a nine (9) are being used for admin penalty (the ITPEN), it will be rejected as the zeroes (0) can be used only for PAYE and Assessed tax.
  • A rule for Admin Penalty (ITPEN) has been added in the guide.

See the updated Guide to Bulk and additional payments on eFiling here.