On 08 August 2024, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) advised that it remained 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 the increased movement of goods.
Pursuant to the above mandate, SARS noted legitimate concerns that had been expressed in the importation of several 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 Value-Added Tax (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.