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CLAIM 1% VAT, RISK OWING SRA

09/04/2018 01:08:00 BY KWANELE DHLADHLA

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MBABANE – If you have bought goods of less than E5 000, do not bother to claim the infamous one per cent VAT from SRA.
Should you claim, you risk owing the taxman.

Following the introduction of 15 per cent VAT by South Africa while the kingdom remains at 14 per cent, mainly due to legislative delays, the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) resolved to facilitate the refund process for taxpayers who choose to utilise the Sekulula VAT Easy Scheme.

Therefore, this means now that the neighbouring republic stands at 15 per cent while the country is at 14 per cent, customers who may have used the scheme to cross into Swaziland after producing invoices, will have one per cent due to them.
The scheme, which became operational in 2015, allows taxpayers who may have paid VAT in South Africa not to pay what is due to the kingdom at the border gate after producing invoices.

The SRA then claims the money from South Africa on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and SRA, a process that costs the tax collector approximately E3 million per annum, according to Commissioner General Dumisani Masilela, who has since introduced a E50 administration fee to minimise this cost.

However, now that the E50 administration fee has been introduced, the break-even point is at E5 000. This effectively means if you have bought goods for E5 000, if you claim the one per cent due to you, you will not get a cent from the SRA. Even worse, if you have bought goods below E5 000 and decide to use Sekulula VAT Easy when entering into the kingdom, you will find yourself owing the SRA.

For instance, if you have bought goods worth E3 500 and decide on claiming the one per cent due to you as a taxpayer, you would have paid E525 as VAT in South Africa while VAT due in Swaziland will be E490, and the one per cent difference will be E35. Since, the administration fee for the SRA is E50; the difference of E15 will have to be paid by the claimant of the one per cent and if you do not pay up, then you owe the SRA and will be taken up as a tax defaulter.