National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (Sars) have published amendments to the Export Regulations to allow zero-rating when movable goods are delivered for export from South Africa to terminal operators and port authorities.
The amendment relates to the section of the regulations that sets out the procedures to be followed by a vendor who elects to zero-rate the export of goods to a qualifying purchaser when those goods are initially delivered to a harbour.
"Under the current regulations, one of the procedural requirements for a vendor to supply goods at the zero-rate is that the goods must be delivered to either the port authority, the master of the ship, a container operator or the pilot of an aircraft, or be brought within the control area of the airport authority.
“It has come to government’s attention that, in certain circumstances, such as with the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), the wording of this requirement in the Export Regulations appears to be causing practical difficulties in application,” National Treasury said on Tuesday.
RBCT is privately owned and operates the coal terminals within the Richards Bay harbour precinct. It uses the port infrastructure, including berths, channels and other services, provided by the Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA).
“In terms of the strict interpretation of the wording of the Export Regulations, to qualify for zero-rating, the coal must be delivered to the port authority, which would be TNPA and not RBCT. However, since TNPA does not run the terminal, this requirement has become difficult to fulfil,” National Treasury said.
The amendments to the regulations have been published in terms of section 74(1), read with paragraph (d) of the definition of “exported” in section 1(1) of the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 (Act No. 89 of 1991), together with the Explanatory Memorandum (EM).
The accompanying documents may be accessed on the National Treasury website: www.treasury.gov.za.
