South African Revenue Services (SARS) confirm that full refunds due.

Published 11 years ago, updated 6 years ago

Following a number of cases where yacht owners have been fined for having their boats in South Africa longer than 6 months (a rule which only applies to commercial vessels, the rule for leisure vessels being one year, after which time Duties and VAT will become liable), the South African Revenue Services (SARS), which manages customs and excise, have now confirmed the following:

At a Meeting held on Tuesday 3rd September with Mr Mthembu, a Senior Customs Official, who stated that;

1)    The attachment of yachts visiting Richards Bay (and other ports where fines have been levied) has been stopped until further notice.

2)    New Legislation is being drawn up and we will be notified before any implementation thereof.

3)    Yacht owners who have paid fines can claim a full refund from any SARS Customs office.

See the original news item about these fines here. [Broken Link]

Our thanks to Rod Banwell, Commodore of the Zululand Yacht Club, for passing on this information. Rod comments; “The cruising fraternity is an integral part of sailing and does provide a source of revenue for our clubs, our Country, (and the various chandlers) and it’s in all our interests to ensure they have an as pleasant and trouble-free visit to our shores as possible”.