Where can I find the information about SA tax

[ernest7119]

Recently many buyers asked me about the tax like how much tax need to pay.
Where can I find this information ?
Does every product need to pay tax ?
As a seller, need I know this and give advice to buyer ?
Some buyer complaint that why not mention to pay tax in item description, is it necessay or every SA citizen should know that ?
thanks

[TaLamia]

For the R81 item I bought from you (of which ONLY R1 was for the item) I had to pay R20 for customs tax :? I feel if you had just wrote the value of the item as the genuine R1 that it was then I wouldn't have.

[ernest7119]

Hi, I want to know how this R21 is calculated. Does it have a fixed formular.

The original cost of the item, of course, it is not R1, it must more than R1, But is it helpful to pay less tax if I list out the original cost of the item.

I hope you understand that selling a crazy sales in BOB, the cost is higher, BOB charges R5 for each item, 5% on successful charges too, cost of item, shipping charges, tracking no service charges, exchange rate great changes. All sum up together, comparatively with what the buyer pay, I have only a very tiny profit. The labour not yet counted, if included, I am afraid I got loss too.

But even the selling price & shipping charges added together, the total is still lower, my item has outstanding value. Buyers are clever, I have many repeated buyers to buy my products in crazy sales.

Another choice is if the buyer feels paying too much on shipping charges is not worth, they can consider to buy my buy now items, all shipping charges are free, the price is reasonable too.

[Linka]

Hi ernest7119

For your kind of items the import tax will be as follows:

40% on the value of the item & 14% VAT on the whole amount & R12 clearance fee.

So if you paid R100 for an item without the shipping, you will pay an extra R71.60 at the post office for import duties.

Sometimes they ask for an invoice, sometimes they take the value stated on the package.

:wink:

[ernest7119]

Thanks very much for your information.

I want to ask one more question, does every import item must need to pay the import tax or can it by luck no need to pay the tax, the custome officer is just access items randomly. Thanks.

[Linka]

Most of the time you pay..... but if you are lucky it sometimes goes through undetected. I think it depends on how the parcel was sent.

I think it is important to always take into account how much the import tax and VAT will be when you buy something from overseas.

[ernest7119]

You said it is by luck sometimes.

How to pack is better ?

Usually I packed it in envelope and labelled with Gift, would it be better ?

Thanks

[PerfectSparkles]

Hi Ernest

I used to mark them as gifts, but then I found that Customs charged whatever THEY felt like. I now include a FULL INVOICE. This is because generally, the customers get the items at alot less than they're actually worth. This way it saves them money because the people at the customs office put the MAXIMUM possible value (which is usually unreasonable) on the package.

Its a catch-22 situation. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. SA TAX is getting a bit ridiculous now...

[BumbleBee]

generally if the parcel is small and the declared value is less than R1000 then customs doesn't pay too much attention to it. Of the last 5 parcels I received from Hong Kong I had to pay R25 clearance fee on 1 of them.

PS. Ernest, I still have not received the items I ordered from you on the 3rd of June

[MProducts]

I think this depends on the SARS employee, I have had parcels go through with no payment and the same parcel with same value would get charged.
Some parcles would get charged by taking the amount deckared on the parcel and some will be held and I will be asked to bring an invoice.

There is a formular and policies, etc. But it all depends on the employee, if they're in a bad mood they hold it and if they're just normal they pass it through and if they're not so well they will charge you.

I just collected a parcel today and on the manifesto it says the value is R0.00 but they charged me R25.00.

If you send parcels from Hong Kong and they dont have tracking number, they pass through freely regardless of value, but parcels from USA and UK are mostly charged regardless of the value especiall y depending on teh weight.

Sipho