What is Excise Duties and Levies?
Excise duties and levies are imposed mostly on high-volume daily consumable products as well as certain non-essential or luxury items.
The goal of these duties and levies is to ensure a constant stream of revenue for the State. It also serves a secondary function is to discourage consumption of certain harmful products such as alcohol.
The revenue generated by these duties and levies amount to approximately ten per cent of the total revenue received by SARS.
Who is entitled to pay Excise Dties and Levies?
Excise Duties are payable by manufacturers of the following products and are levied throughout the Southern African Customs Union.
The following products are levied within South Africa:
- Fuel Levy and Road Accident Fund (RAF) Levy on Fuel / Petroleum Products.
- Environmental Levy Products.
- Certain types of plastic bags.
- Electricity generation, using non-renewable or environmentally hazardous fuels.
- Non energy-saving light bulbs.
- Motor vehicle CO2 emission levels.
What steps can you take?
Relevant companies in South Africa must license with SARS Excise before they start to manufacture or deal in any of these products on which the applicable Excise Duty and Levy has not yet been paid.
When and how should it be paid?
These duties and levies are self-assessed by the client per periodic Excise return and, depending on the product, paid to SARS on either a monthly or quarterly basis.
