Legal and Policy - 21 September 2023

Legal and Policy

SARS:

• 20 September 2023 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has noted the media report of 17 September 2023 by the Sunday Times concerning the detention of five vessels involved in the fuel bunkering supply chain.

From 2016 SARS has been engaging with the fuel industry to encourage compliance with the legislation concerning the importation, the trading in and other operational activities of vessels engaged in the supply of fuel.

Alongside these engagements, SARS has also been conducting investigations around compliance in fuel bunkering, and the detention of the vessels mentioned in the media article is part of this on-going investigation.

SARS confirms that several vessels were detained in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 91 of 1964. This was done in the normal course of investigating whether the provisions of the Act have been contravened. SARS is of the view that the detention is lawful and, as the investigation is ongoing, no decision to seize such vessels has been taken.

SARS Commissioner Mr Edward Kieswetter said “SARS is obliged to administer the law fairly, without fear, favour or prejudice and to conduct investigations in a responsible manner in accordance with a fair procedure. SARS has no interest in jeopardising economic growth nor of contributing to the problem of unemployment, poverty and inequality.”

The Commissioner implored taxpayers and traders to comply with their tax and Customs obligations. He emphasised that SARS will not hesitate to act firmly and robustly to ensure that non-compliance is hard and costly for those that wilfully and intentionally ignore their obligations. The clarion call to all taxpayers and traders is: “comply or face the consequences”.

For further information, please contact SARSMedia@sars.gov.za

• 20 September 2023 – The SARS branch in Rissik street, Johannesburg CBD, will be closed from this afternoon until further notice. All virtual appointments will still be honoured. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
• 19 September 2023 – RFP15/2023: Appointment of a service provider for the provision of events management services for ATAF and BRICS events

Briefing presentation

• 18 September 2023 – The registration and payment of Air Passenger Tax have been enhanced.

The related guides have been updated:

• APT-02-Air Passenger Tax – External Policy

• APT-03 – Air Passenger Tax – External Guide

• SC-CF-19 – Registration Licencing and Designation – External Policy

• SC-CF-19-A01 – Documentary Requirements – External Annexure

• SC-CF-19-A03 – Exemption from Ad Valorem Excise Licence and Payment – External Annexure

• SC-CF-19-A04 – Joint Ad Valorem Excise Licence – External Annexure

For more information, see the Air Passenger Tax webpage.

• 18 September 2023 – The third-party data reporting process needs Representative Taxpayers or their representatives to report the required ITR12T information via the IT3-01 and IT3-02 forms. Representative Taxpayers or their representatives can view and correct the data or certificates that was submitted to SARS on request.

SARS requests that Section 18A approved entities (e.g., Government, Government Institutions, Public Benefit Organizations (PBO), or United Nations Agencies) who received donations and issued tax deductible receipts to Donors are to report those receipts to SARS. If a receipt was issued, then it should be reported to SARS.

The relevant documents pertaining to these processes have been updated. Additionally, a new guide on how to manage the submission of IT3 third party data has been developed.

• GEN-ENR-01-G01 – Guide for the Submission of Third-Party Data using the Connect Direct channel – External Guide
• GEN-ENR-01-G02 – Guide for the Submission of Third-Party Data using the HTTPS Channel – External Guide
• GEN-ENR-01-G03 – Guide for the Submission and Declaration of IT3 Third-Party Data via eFiling – External Guide
• GEN-ENR-01-G10 – Manage Submission of IT3 Third Party Data – External Guide

• 18 September 2023 – e@syFile version 7.4.0 was released.
• 18 September 2023 – Enhancements to the Tax Directives system have been successfully implemented in line with the ‘IBIR-006 Tax Directives Interface Specification Version 6.505. We appreciate your continued support in our endeavour to provide clarity & certainty and make it easy for taxpayers and traders to fulfil their obligations whilst ensuring safe & secure digital platforms, we continuously maintain and enhance our systems.

Thank you to those who assisted us with the Trade Testing for this solution, your participation and cooperation is valued.

For more information, see the I want a Tax Directive webpage.

• 15 September 2023 – Tax Directives Legislative changes and system enhancements

Prior to 1 March 2023 a member of a retirement annuity fund could only transfer all the contracts / policies in that retirement annuity fund to only one other retirement annuity fund.

With effect from 1 March 2023 the definition of “retirement annuity fund” was amended to provide a member with more than one contract / policy in a retirement annuity fund can now transfer one or more of these contracts / policies to another approved retirement annuity fund, subject to the following conditions:

• The transfer value of the member’s interest must exceed R371 250 per contract / policy. Therefore, the value of each contract / policy must be equal to or more than R371 250 to be able to split the transfer to multiple approved retirement annuity funds. If any of the contracts / policies value is less than R371 250 the member cannot transfer to more than one retirement annuity fund.

• If the total member’s interest is not transferred, the amount remaining in the retirement annuity fund must exceed the amount of R371 250.

The monetary restriction of R371 250 will not be applicable per transferring contract / policy when the member’s entire interest in one retirement annuity fund is transferred to another retirement annuity fund (i.e. not transferred to more than one retirement annuity fund).

Tax directive system and application forms enhancements

Form C retirement annuities

• The tax directive system and the Form C tax directive application form was enhanced to allow up to four contract/policy to be transferred to multiple approved retirement annuity approved funds.

• The tax directive system will reject a tax directive application if:

• The amount to be transferred is split in such a way that the value of each contract/policy does not exceed R371 250; and/or

• The remaining amount in the retirement annuity fund does not exceed the amount of R371 250, in circumstances where the member’s vested interest is not transferred in full.

Recognition of Transfer (ROT) decline message

A significant number of ROT’s are outstanding. Therefore, some of the ROT rejection error messages have been updated to provide more detail as to why the ROT submission was rejected, to help the Fund Administrators and Long-term Insurers to better understand the reason for the rejection and to assist in the submission of the ROT’s.

• 15 September 2023 – The Customs and Excise Refunds and Drawbacks have been automated and the application must be made on an electronic form on eFiling.
• 15 September 2023 – The following enhancements have been implemented for the PAYE Interim Filing Season:

• There are no new source codes added, however there are minor changes to certain field types and validations;

• Enhancements to IRP5 certificates;

• Enhancements to Employment Tax Repository;

• EMP201 returns for suspended (s-coded) employers;

• Enhancements to EMP501 Reconciliation;

• Section 95 estimates.

Updated external guides:

• PAYE-AE-06-G06 – Guide for Codes Applicable to Employees Tax Certificates 2024 – External Guide

• PAYE-AE-06-G07 – Guide for Validation Rules Applicable to Reconciliation Declarations 2024 – External Guide

• PAYE-AE-06-G08 – Guide for Completion and Submission of Employees Tax Certificates 2024 – External Guide

• EMP-GEN-02-G01 – A Guide to the Employer Reconciliation Process – External Guide

• 15 September 2023 – SARS’ aim is to record all beneficial owners of registered Trusts in order to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements. In this regard, certain information must be submitted via e-Filing. These documents may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

• An organogram, illustrative, or schematic diagram depicting effective control of the Trust. Where the Beneficial Ownership is in the form of other legal arrangements or legal entities, this should be provided in a separate attachment.

• An Excel spreadsheet containing the above information; or

• Such other document(s), which will elaborate on Beneficial Ownership in relation to the Trust.

When capturing the beneficial ownership information, it is mandatory for the current year’s return that at least one document be submitted that relates to beneficial ownership information. In the event there are more than 20 beneficial owners, the taxpayer must upload a supporting document that reflects the additional beneficial owner(s).

All minutes, excluding those dealing with internal trustee governance arrangements and/or administrative matters, must be submitted.

IT-AE-36-G02 – Comprehensive Guide to the Income Tax return for Trusts – External Guide

• 15 September 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariff amendment notices R3885 and R3886, as published in Government Gazette 49313 of 15 September 2023, are now available.
• 15 September 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for rule amendment notice R3884, as published in Government Gazette 49313 of 15 September 2023, are now available.
• 15 September – SARS Payment Rules Guide has been updated to include African Bank and Bank Zero for payments that can be made via Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) into to the SARS public beneficiaries listed on the banking platform. With effect from 15 September 2023, Air Passenger Tax (APT) payments will only be allowed on eFiling.

• GEN-PAYM-01-G01 – SARS Payment Rules – External Guide

• 15 September 2023 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods
• 15 September 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Rule amendment notice R.3781, as published in Government Gazette 49304 of 15 September 2023, to amend rules under sections 47B and 120 – Air Passenger Tax Automation
• 14 September 2023 – The title of SC-CF-50 has been amended to Relationship Management on the Customs Trader Portal and the:

• The link to the definitions, acronyms and abbreviations has been updated; and

• the disclaimer paragraph has been added.

The facility codes used in Box 30 on the Customs Clearance Declaration (CCD) have been updated to:

• Remove the physical address of terminal V6, Manuchar South Africa (Pty) Ltd.; and

• Add the details of the new licensed container depots in:

• Cape Town, AM – Grindrod Logistics (Pty) Ltd.; and

• Durban, AN – Grindrod Logistics (Pty) Ltd.

The external annexure and the guide can be accessed through the following links:

• SC-CF-19-A02 – Facility Code List – External Annexure; and

• SC-CF-50 – Relationship Management on Customs Trader Portal – External Guide

• 14 September 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964 – The rule amendment notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the amendments to rules under sections 59A, 60, 64F, 75, 101A and 120 – Electronic submission of applications for drawbacks and refunds of Schedules No. 5 and 6, and related rule amendments (DAR251).

Publication details will be made available later

• 14 September 2023 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariff amendment notices, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relate to the amendments to –

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 5, by the substitution of Note 5 in order to make reference to new rule 75.26 that provides for the electronic submission of drawbacks and refunds; and
• Part 2 of Schedule No. 5, by the substitution of Notes 2 and 5(a), as well as the descriptions under rebate items 522.00 and 523.02 in order to make reference to new rule 75.26 that provides for the electronic submission of drawbacks and refunds.

Publication details will be made available later

• 14 September 2023 – The latest Tax Practitioner Connect Newsletter Issue 46 is available. This issue includes information on Employer’s Interim Reconciliation, Shared Access, outsourcing of overdue debt, what happens when SARS pays a refund into an old bank account, what to do if you don’t agree with the auto assessment, should a deceased person’s Income Tax Return be filed, naming of supporting documents, webinar on Provisional Tax, supporting documents for Tax Compliance status for foreign investment allowance, tax directive system enhancements scheduled for September 2023, the introduction of document encryption and the use of the SARS logo.
• 14 September 2023 – The latest Government Connect Newsletter Issue 13 is available. This issue includes information on the Employer’s interim reconciliation, the outsourcing of overdue debt, what happens when SARS pays a refund into an old bank account, what to do if you don’t agree with the Auto assessment, naming of supporting documents, tax directive system enhancements scheduled for September 2023, the introduction of document encryption, Roodepoort man sentenced for fraudulent tax refunds and training intervention for Municipalities conducted by SARS and National Treasury.

NATIONAL TREASURY:

• Speech by Minister of Finance, Mr Enoch Godongwana, at the 2023 Public Finance Management Conference – 20 September 2023
• 2023 3rd Public Finance Management Conference Invitation – 19 September 2023
• Guidelines on Cost Containment Measures Announced by the National Treasury for the 2023/24 Financial Year – 18 September 2023

OECD:

• Public comments received on Amount B under Pillar One relating to the simplification of transfer pricing rules - 20 September 2023

ATAF:

• The Future of Tax: Embracing the Digital Evolution – 14 September 2023