It is important to understand the process of lodging an appeal with the South African Revenue Service (Sars), especially with regard to additional duties, VAT and penalties.
Of equal importance are the repercussions if an appeal is lost, as options are extremely limited.
An appeal may be lodged against any decision made by the Commissioner but, in general, appeals are lodged against tariff, valuation or origin decisions or an incorrect penalty amount.
These decisions may be issued either via the EDI (electronic data interchange) platform or by means of a Letter of Demand, usually the result of an audit, and an appeal must be lodged within 30 days of the decision made by the Commissioner.
- Read the full column by Clifford Evans here: An insight to the Customs appeal process.
