What’s New at SARS

19 May 2022 – The tariff amendment notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the amendments to –

• Part 2 of Schedule No. 5, by the insertion of refund item 522.02/22.00/01.04 and Note 7, to provide for a refund item for certain alcoholic beverages that have undergone post-manufacturing deterioration (Expired Stock) (with retrospective effect from 15 March 2019).

Publication details will be made available later

17 May 2022 – Tax Administration Act, 2011, and Income Tax Act, 1962

• SARSTC 35448 (ADM) [2022] ZATC DBN (16 March 2022)

(a) Whether management fees claimed by Taxpayer Z in the sum of R16 million, made up of management fees excluding value-added tax are expressed in the financial accounts of Taxpayer Z as “management fees”. (b) Whether SARS was entitled to impose interest under Act 58 of 1962, and whether SARS should have remitted that interest. (c) Whether SARS was entitled to impose an understatement penalty of 125% under Act 28 of 2011. (d) Whether Taxpayer Z or SARS should pay the costs of the appeal.

19 May 2022 – An updated version of [email protected] was released. The changes include adjustment to EMP501 submission files to align validation for Tax Directive numbers with the SARS PAYE BRS and adjustment to the PDF rendering to allow Operating System (OS) default application. For the latest version 7.2.6 (including 7.2.5), see the [email protected] webpage.

18 May 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962: Tables of Interest Rates

• Table 1 – Interest rates on outstanding taxes and interest rates payable on certain refunds of tax
• Table 2 – Interest rates payable on credit amounts

18 May 2022 – The SARS Nigel branch is closed for visits until further notice. All virtual appointments will still be honoured. Our apologies for the inconvenience.

17 May 2022 – As previously indicated, SARS is aware of issues with submitting disputes on eFiling which has resulted in some disputes being rejected. A fix was implemented on 13 May 2022 to address this matter. The team is working on resolving any remaining issues. Where a taxpayer or Practitioner had submitted a dispute between 22 April 2022 and 14 May 2022 ,  please check your dispute history on eFiling to verify if your dispute is reflecting as received or rejected. If the dispute is rejected, may you kindly submit this dispute to SARS as soon as possible. SARS apologises for the inconvenience.

17 May 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Interpretation Note (IN) 120 – Prohibition of Deductions in respect of Certain Intellectual Property

17 May 2022 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• SARSTC 24578 (ADM) [2022] ZATC JHB (8 April 2022)

Whether it is correct, lawful or appropriate for MB to deduct capital expenditure incurred at its AA mine from the revenue earned at its BB and CC mines

17 May 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962: Status overview of all DTAs and Protocols – Multilateral Convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (MLI) Synthesised Texts

Cameroon and Thailand have been added to the list of treaty partners that ratified the MLI

17 May 2022 – Scam: SARS letter of demand

17 May 2022 – Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods

16 May 2022 – New scam:  Important notification

13 May 2022 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• SARSTC VAT 1826 (ADM) [2022] ZATC JHB (10 May 2022)

Whether the respondent has shown good cause for its default to timeously file the statement and whether the court should condone the late filing of the respondent’s statement in terms of Tax Court Rule 31 and direct that the appeal (against the imposition of understatement penalties) proceeds on the merits. If the failure is not condoned, whether default judgment in terms of Rule 56(1)(a), read with section 129 of the Act 28 of 2011 should be granted in favour of the applicant.

13 May 2022 – Publication details for tariff amendment notice R.2081, as published in Government Gazette 46358 on 13 May 2022, are now available.

13 May 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Draft Amendment to Rule under sections 59A and 120

• Draft amendment to rule 59A.01A – Submission of applications for registration and updating of registration details

Due date for public comment: 27 May 2022

13 May 2022 – Customs & Excise Act, 1964: Draft Amendment to Form

• Draft amendment to SAD 500 – Customs declaration form

Due date for public comment: 27 May 2022

12 May 2022 – SARS wishes to make you aware of protests currently taking place in and around Musina. Frustrations around service delivery failures are said to be at the root of the protests and have led to burning of objects and blocking of roads, which might hinder travellers moving in and out of Musina through the Beit Bridge border post.

At this point, the situation seems to be worsening, with police having fired rubber bullets near the Musina Mall to disperse crowds. In addition, the protests continue to take place sporadically at night.

During this time, you are kindly advised to keep your vehicles in the truck parks around the border vicinity, and delay going to Musina until the protests have subsided. Travellers wanting to use the Beitbridge border post are advised that they may use the Groblers Bridge border post along the N11. Note that this is the only alternate border post in the Limpopo Province.

We apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused during this time and appeal to all traders and travellers to avoid points of protest and keep safe.

12 May 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Binding General Ruling 30 (Issue 2) – Allocation of Direct and Indirect Expenses within and between an Insurer’s Funds

12 May 2022 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Binding General Ruling 8 (Issue 3) – Application of the Principles Enunciated by the Brummeria Case