In a letter to ‘All External Stakeholders’ dated 01 February, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) Customs & Excise chief officer reminded all customs clients who are deferment account holders to adhere to the 13th deferment payment requirements which are due by each financial year-end.
The ‘Customs External Standard-Deferment Document’ (SC-DT-B-02) effective from 27 November 2015 stipulates that, in addition to the twelve regular payment dates chosen by the client, there will be a thirteenth payment in March every year.
The statement period for the thirteenth payment of the 2018/2019 financial year will close on 28 March at 00:00 and payment must be made by 15:00 on 29 March.
The e-statements will be available at 00:01 on 29 March for account holders who are on e-filing, whereas account holders not on e-filing are advised to make prior arrangement to collect statements at the respective Customs branch offices.
Sars advised stakeholders, specifically in cases where their bank does not transfer direct payments immediately, that they should ensure that payments are made in advance in order to meet the payment deadline, otherwise a deferment suspension will be applied in line with the policy.
Story by: Riaan de Lange