SARS:

2 November 2022 – The initiative whereby the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) have joined forces with Business and Labour to donate tons of seized clothing, blankets, and footwear to flood victims in Kwa-Zulu Natal, has entered its second phase. This entails the donation of clothing and footwear to the flood victims.

The initiative, dubbed Project Sizani (We all Help), took shape after the declaration of a state of disaster by Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa in response to the flooding in KZN during April this year, which wreaked havoc in this province, killing over 400 people and destroying over 8 500 houses. Some parts of the Eastern Cape, North West and Free State provinces also experienced devastation due to the April flooding.

“Whilst the project is aimed at minimising the material impact of the affected people, it is also intended to restore dignity to those who were left almost naked by the disaster. Humanity is what drives this gesture more than anything else,” says Mr. Patrick Moeng, Executive: Focused Investigative Audit Unit: Syndicated Tax and Customs Crime Division at SARS, and leader of Project Sizani.

The initiative involves the distribution of some of the millions of tons of goods from the clothing, textile, footwear and leather industries (CTFL) that had been seized by SARS since 2018, which otherwise would have been destroyed in accordance with the Customs Act, Act 91 of 1964, administered by SARS, as well as a 2009 and 2020 NEDLAC agreement, stipulating that seized goods must be destroyed so as to avoid disruption to the South African market.

During the first phase, which started in June this year, the donation of blankets commenced in KZN, due to the urgent need after the April floods, where hundreds of flood survivors are still living in community halls (shelters).

The second phase comprises the donation of clothing and footwear to flood victims identified in the various district municipalities of the KZN, EC and NW provinces. It is a much more intricate process, due to the due diligence that has to be conducted for each item to be donated.

Team effort

A Governance Task Team (GTT) which comprises members from SARS, the dtic, Organised Labour and the CTFL industry is responsible for the execution of the project, although other role players that play an instrumental part in the execution of the project are the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC), the Department of Social Development (DSD), and the Offices of the various Premiers in the impacted provinces. In addition, the involvement of Business and Labour , as key stakeholders, is necessary in every step of the project, to monitor the processes and ensure any risks that may harm the local business are mitigated.

To date, more than 28 000 blankets had been delivered to specific individuals at approximately 174 sites in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The KZN phase 1 (blanket distribution) pilot paved the way for the roll-out of the second phase of the project: an even more intricate and tightly controlled process as the footwear and clothing items are wrapped in individual packages for specific individuals in specific shelters before they are handed over for distribution.

This second phase of the project is currently underway in KZN after a pilot at the two smaller shelters in Inanda and one in La Mercy offered a chance to develop and refine the process even further.

According to Mr. Moeng, 25 698 items of clothing have so far been donated to the first 31 of 74 sites in KZN. The packing, sorting and distribution to shelters continues to take place as more shipments of seized clothing arrive from Gauteng, courtesy of many shipping lines who extended their hand of goodwill to assist in transporting the containers of seized items to different parts of the country where the need has been identified.

The project is earmarked to be concluded at the end of November 2022 with North West and Easter Cape following on the footsteps of KZN.

For queries, kindly contact SARSMedia@sarss,gov.za.

2 November 2022 – Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list

Export permit from ITAC is not required for tariff heading 8704.21.70, 8704.21.75 and 8704.21.77.

1 November 2022 – Supreme Court of Appeal judgments

Summaries are available on the Supreme Court of Appeal judgments page

1 November 2022 – SARS is conducting roadshows in the regions to assist traders to onboard onto the electronic Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) eFiling system. Onboarding to the RLA system will reduce manual processing that would, at times, cause delays. The regional roadshows will provide traders the opportunity to have physical interactions with SARS’ Registration, Licensing and Accreditation officers, who will support traders to activate their eFiling profiles and navigate the RLA eFiling system by submitting an application themselves.

Traders in the Free State are now invited to visit the SARS Maseru office any day from 14 – 18 November 2022. Slots are daily from 9:00 – 10:00, 11:00 – 12:00 and 13:00 – 14:00. This will be the last leg of regional roadshows for 2022, and traders are encouraged to continue using the self-registration option on eFiling.

Venue:

SARS Maseru Bridge Boardroom
N12 Road
Ladybrand
Free State

For more information on Registration, Licensing and Accreditation, see the RLA webpage.

1 November 2022 – The SARS Annual Report 2021-2022 has been published. See the Annual Reports & Strategic Plans webpage here or the direct link to the report – SARS Annual report 2021-2022.
31 October 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Draft Interpretation Note – Exemption of income relating to South African ships used in international shipping

Due date for comment: 9 December 2022

31 October 2022 – Value-Added Tax Act, 1991

Draft Binding General Ruling – Value-added tax treatment of rounding difference in cash transactions

Due date for comment: 2 December 2022

31 October 2022 – SARS today releases trade statistics for September 2022 recording a preliminary trade balance surplus of R19.70 billion attributable to exports of R191.56 billion and imports of R171.86 billion.

See the full Media Release for September 2022 here.

31 October 2022 – The latest scam is a ‘PayFast’ SMS asking unsuspecting taxpayers to click on a link to receive a payment from SARS. Please ignore and do not click on any links. To see all currently known scams, visit our Scams and Phishing webpage.
31 October 2022 – Binding Private Rulings

Binding Private Ruling 386 – Share disposal between two employee share incentive trusts

Binding Private Ruling 385 – Use of preference share proceeds to fund employee share ownership plan

31 October 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Binding Class Ruling 083 – Simultaneous unbundling of shares held in more than one listed company
31 October 2022 – The October 2022 issue of the Tax Practitioner Connect newsletter is now available. See the latest edition for news on the Employer interim reconciliation declarations, enhancements to the Tax Directive process and more.
31 October 2022 – The October 2022 issue of the Government Connect newsletter is now available.
29 October 2022 – Third Party Data Returns are due on Monday, 31 October 2022, that includes the associated data files and correlating declarations [Data Types: IT3(b), IT3(c), IT3(s), MED, INS].

Important to note, submissions are not complete until declarations are submitted via eFiling that ensures your data files are reconciled via the respective Third Party Data Returns.

Third Party Data Providers are urged to make timely submissions, as incomplete, late or non-submissions may be liable for penalties and would impact your respective clients.

It is encouraging to convey that 88% of the required Third Party Data submissions have been receipted.

We would like to thank those Third Party Data Providers that made their submissions well in advance of the due date.

Should you experience any challenges while making your submissions, you are welcome to contact us by emailing SARS Third Party Data Support (Bus_Sys_CDSupport@sars.gov.za).

For more information, see the Third Party Submission Platform webpage

28 October 2022 – Tax workshops for North West province during November.
28 October 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Binding Private Ruling 384 – Cession to special trust of the beneficiary’s loan account

27 October 2022 – National Legislation: The Minister of Finance introduced the following Bills in the National Assembly on 26 October 2022:

Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill [B25—2022]
Taxation Laws Amendment Bill [B26—2022]
Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill [B27—2022]

27 October 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Binding Private Ruling 383 – Transfer of profits for group tax purposes between controlled foreign companies

27 October 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

Binding Class Ruling 082 – Deductibility of mining rehabilitation insurance premiums

27 October 2022 – The Manage Diesel Refund Calculations Policy has been revised to include:

All criteria that a prospective claimant must meet to qualify for a diesel refund;
The refund calculation prescribed in Rebate Item 670.04 of Schedule 6;
Information needed to complete Part C of the VAT201;
Steps to follow where the implementation date of the new rates fall within the tax period; and
Calculation examples.

The extent of the rebate of the General Fuel and Road Accident Fund levies has been deleted from the document as it is readily available in Schedule 6. The path to the current and historic rates has been included.

27 October 2022 – Millions of rands worth of illegal or illicit goods were confiscated in several joint operations conducted through coordinated efforts within SARS over the past month.

An intelligence-driven operation between enforcement teams within SARS and the SA Police Service (SAPS) took place on 25 October 2022 relating to the prevention and detection of cross-border smuggling and Customs and Excise non-compliance in the cigarette and tobacco industry.

SARS Enforcement Teams deployed to the East Rand in Gauteng and supported by the SAPS, found a truck offloading raw tobacco, allegedly imported from Zimbabwe, at a warehouse. The team also found a substantial number of boxes with raw tobacco, which had been previously delivered to the warehouse.

It was further established that the tobacco, which was destined for a Bonded Warehouse, had been illegally diverted to an unregistered warehouse. This is in contravention of the Customs and Excise Act.

The Joint Enforcement Teams conducted a full inspection, and the following goods were detained for further investigation:

o 472 boxes of raw tobacco with a Customs value of R10 919 000 (Incl. duties & Vat)

o Truck transporting the raw tobacco boxes to the value of R2 500 000.

See the full media statement here.

27 October 2022 – The PAYE BRS for Employer Reconciliation was updated. The PAYE BRS for Employer Reconciliation version 21 2 is now published (previous version was 21 1). The changes are:

Relaxed the validations for email addresses and
Amended the description for the Fixed Rate Indicator.

See more information on the PAYE webpage:

Business Requirement Specifications (BRS) and timelines

Business Requirement Specification	Year Applicable	Submission dates*
BRS – PAYE Employer Reconciliation for 2022 / 2023	2023 Annual Employer Reconciliation (1 March 2022 – 28 February 2023)	Interim: 19 Sep – 31 Oct 2022

NATIONAL TREASURY:

Media statement: Invitation to Submit Technical Annexure C Tax proposals for the 2023 Budget – 2 November 2022
Statement of the National Revenue, Expenditure and Borrowing as at 30 September 2022 -28 October 2022

TAX OMBUD:

Fairness for all: Case 20 – 27 October 2022

Author	SAICA
Division	Legal and Policy
Categories	Legal and Policy
Date	3 November 2022

Legal and Policy - 3 November 2022

Description