The South African Revenue Service has introduced a new travel pass which it says makes it “easy and simple for travellers to comply with their legal obligation.”
The South African Traveller Management System is being piloted at King Shaka International Airport ahead of its national rollout in 2023.
Anyone leaving or entering South Africa will eventually be required to use this system, although it’s voluntary for now.
It requires travellers to declare what currency and goods they’re carrying before even boarding a flight.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is piloting a new traveller declaration system at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport. All travellers leaving or entering South Africa will eventually need to complete this declaration, but, for now, it’s voluntary.
SARS says it is on a mission to strengthen its controls to detect and deter illicit financial flows. The revenue service has set its sights on the country’s ports of entry as a frontline in this fight, recently launching the South African Traveller Management System (SATMS), which makes it “easy and simple for travellers to comply with their legal obligation.”
The SATMS’ testing phase officially began on Tuesday at King Shaka International Airport, following a delay brought about by concerns from South Africa’s tourism industry, and a change in the pilot venue from Johannesburg to Durban.
See also | SARS is pushing ahead with its new travel pass in November – but trades Joburg for Durban
The new system is a web-based application that enables travellers entering and leaving the country to pre-declare goods purchased, received, or otherwise acquired and pay applicable taxes. The declaration is currently available for completion pre-arrival or pre-departure on a voluntary basis. In the meantime, familiar manual declarations – the TC-01 form – are still available at King Shaka International Airport and will likely serve as a backup method going forward in case of technical glitches.
SARS hopes that the SATMS, once tried and tested, will be rolled out at other airports across the country and, eventually, to all ports of entry by 2024.
“Our initial implementation plan will be within the airport environment but, obviously, from a broader perspective [it’s] to ensure that [it’s at] at all our ports of entry, land, sea, and air,” said SARS’ Cassius Sinthumule during a presentation on the SATMS earlier in November.
While SARS has set an ambitious target of implementing this new system at all points of entry within the coming year, this timeline will ultimately be guided by the success of the pilot at King Shaka International Airport.
“Our vision is to pilot at King Shaka and as indicated, the whole purpose is for us to learn and also get input in terms of making the system better, making the system serve everybody, all the stakeholders that are impacted by this system,” explained Mandla Gugushe, who is responsible for project management.
“We hope to start the rollout in 2023, and within that vision, we hope that by 2024 we shall have covered all the ports, including land and seas modalities.”
SARS South African Traveller Management System: How it works
SARS South Africa new travel pass
The online traveller declaration is available to those who have booked their flights to travel to or from South Africa. Travellers will need to include their passport, travel, and contact details along with information on goods being carried – including currency – when entering or leaving the country.
SARS South Africa new travel pass
The first section to complete on the declaration concerns the traveller’s details. This requires the traveller’s passport number, name, address, and contact details, among others.
Once the traveller’s details have been submitted, the next section to complete is the travel detail. This includes declaring the type of travel undertaken, whether for business or in a personal capacity, and the reason for travelling, like leisure, for example. It also requires details about where the passenger is flying from and to, with any stopovers also needing to be listed.
SARS South Africa new travel pass
Travel details must also include the passenger’s flight number and travel date.
Details of what’s being carried by the passenger are broken into two categories: currency and possession.
SARS South Africa new travel pass
Travellers completing the declaration are required to list the amount of cash being carried, whether in rand or foreign currency. They’ll also need to declare the source of these funds.
SARS South Africa new travel pass
Travellers using the SATMS need to declare whether they’re carrying any prohibited or restricted goods, answering whether these goods are intended for trade, need to be registered for temporary importation or exportation, or are in excess of duty-free allowances.
Once all sections of the online declaration have been completed, the traveller will receive a confirmation email. This correspondence will instruct the traveller on what to do when arriving at the airport.
Credit – Taken from – https://www.news24.com/news24/bi-archive/how-to-use-sars-new-travel-pass-in-south-africa-2022-11
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