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2024 Legal and Policy

Legal and Policy - 15 August 2024

Description

SARS

  • 8 August 2024 – Tax Administration Act, 2011: Public Notice 5114 of Government Gazette 51022 dated 8 August 2024, The Notice of addresses at which a document or notice must be delivered, or a request must be made for purposes of rule 2(1)(c)(ii) and rule 3(1) read together with rule 2(1)(c)(iii) of the rules promulgated in terms of section 103 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011. This public notice replaces, with effect from date of publication, Government Notice No. 3135 published in Government Gazette No. 48187 dated 10 March 2023.
  • 8 August 2024 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) remains committed to providing clarity and certainty in the implementation of its mandate of promoting legitimate trade for the economic development of the country in an era of rapidly expanding e-Commerce. This will be achieved by making it simple and easy to facilitate an increased movement of goods.
  • Pursuant to the above mandate, SARS noted legitimate concerns that have been expressed in the importation of several of goods, especially clothing, via e-Commerce by a number of importers who have not been paying the obligatory Customs duties and VAT on these imports, resulting in unfair competition with other industry players.
  • The concerns stem from the fact that, due to the immense scale of trade via e-Commerce, SARS Customs implemented a “concession” for goods valued at less than R500, in terms of which importers paid a flat rate of 20% in lieu of Customs duties and no VAT.
  • To address these concerns and to provide clarity for traders involved in the importation of goods via e-Commerce, SARS will make several changes in line with the World Customs Organization (WCO) framework to deal with the already changing trade landscape.

Read the full Media Release here.

  • 8 August 2024 – The facility codes used in Box 30 of Goods Declaration (GD) have been updated to include the details of the newly approved container depot – United Container Depots (Pty) Ltd. and a new transit shed – Skynet South Africa (Pty) Ltd, both situated in Cape Town.
  • 9 August 2024 – The Kopfontein border is closed due to blocked drainage. Travellers and traders are advised to use the Skilpadshek border post. The issue is being resolved and a notification will be given as soon as the border is operational again. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
  • 10 August 2024 – The Kopfontein border post management would like to thank traders and travelers for their patience and understanding during the port temporary closure. At 20:45 pm. today (10 August 2024), the border post will officially resume operations. Traders are encouraged to arrive at the border post with all relevant documents to ensure a smooth flow of cargo trucks.
  • 12 August 2024 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) will again provide trade testers an opportunity to test the updated e@syFile™ Employer build before the formal release in mid-September 2024 for the Employer Interim Reconciliation.

The updated e@syFile™ Employer BETA version with enhanced features for download will be released to you on 16 September 2024. The Business Requirements Specification: SARS_PAYE_BRS – PAYE Employer Reconciliation_V23.0.0 for the Employer Interim Reconciliation submission period 202408 is available on www.sars.gov.za

During the testing period from 19 August to 23 August 2024, all online functionality will be disabled to prevent the incorrect submission of test data into the production environment. This means the application will default to offline mode. Certain menu options will also be disabled as a precautionary measure.

The BETA version of the current e@syFile will contain the following changes:

  • New source code for the saving withdrawal benefit for two-pot system
  • Minor amendments to source code validations

To download the BETA build:

  • Kindly send the public address range of your organisation to SARSTradeTesting@sars.gov.za for whitelisting request. It is recommended that you obtain this information from your IT Network Support team given the dynamic nature of IP addresses based on IT security protocols instituted by your organisation hence the request for public address/range of your organisation instead of your IP address. The IP address will be whitelisted, and confirmation will be issued.
  • After whitelisting, the following link will become accessible and the BETA build for the replatformed version of e@syFile can be downloaded. https://securepreprod.offline.sarsefiling.co.za/PAGDownloadSite/BetaHome.xhtml
  • The login details will be shared with the coordinator.

e@syFile is being replaced with a new version (replatformed version) which will contain technological updates:

  • A change in the look and feel i.e. the screen colours and working of the fields that are now more aligned to all the HTML5 forms SARS currently utilise;
  • The use of a split database i.e. the employer copy and pastes the relevant employer information from the “old” platform to the “new” platform to create an employer database for each reconciliation period;
  • Error messages are no longer displayed in a pop–up but displayed on the particular field the administrator is currently typing in.

You will be notified when the replatformed version is available for testing.

SARS will analyse the feedback from the external testers during the test cycles. Please nominate a coordinator to act as liaison and provide the person’s contact details to SARS.

The coordinator must consolidate their organisation’s feedback to and send it to SARSTradeTesting@sars.gov.za. It is preferred that feedback is sent daily.

  • 13 August 2024 – The state provides state warehouses for the safekeeping of goods. These are managed by Customs. The purpose of this list of unentered goods is to notify the importer, exporter and any other person that has interest in the goods that the goods have been taken up into the State warehouse and if they remain unentered they will be disposed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act.

See the latest Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods here.

  • 14 August 2024 – The Mthatha Mobile Tax Unit and Mall Activation schedules for September to October 2024 are now available.
  • 14 August 2024 – 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 and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with 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 and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance. Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance are scheduled for Friday, 16 August 2024 from 18h00 to 23h00. During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms. Responses (CUSRES messages) to transactions submitted during this time will be delayed, however, arrival and exit management functions are available at land border posts for all released declarations and manifests.

Stakeholders are therefore urged to submit all Goods Declarations (bills of entry) and Road Manifest, especially those deemed priority, by Friday, 16 August 2024 @ 17h00.

OECD

SAFLII

ATAF

NATIONAL TREASURY

AuthorLegal and Policy
DivisionTax
Categories
Legal and Policy
Date5 August 2024