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2026 Legal and Policy

Legal & policy - 5 February 2026

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SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE (SARS)

  • 30 January 2026 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R23.2 billion in December 2025. This surplus was attributable to exports of R164.3 billion and imports of R141.1 billion, inclusive of trade with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN).

See the full Media Release here.

Or visit the Trade Statistics webpage.

  • 30 January 2026 – South African Revenue Service Act, 1997
  • 2 February 2026 – The state provides state warehouses for the safekeeping of goods. These are managed by Customs. The purpose of this list of unentered goods is to notify the importer, exporter and any other person that has interest in the goods that the goods have been taken up into the State warehouse and if they remain unentered they will be disposed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs & Excise Act.

See the latest Customs Weekly List of Unentered Goods here.

  • 3 February 2026 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication of rules amendments notice R7066, as published in Government Gazette 54060 of 2 February 2026:

? Correction Notice: Government Notice No. R. 7033 of Government Gazette No. 54025 dated 28 January 2026 is hereby corrected by the deletion of the reference to form “DA 199.04C Calculation of the volume assembly localisation allowance in respect of electric vehicles produced and ready for sale for the SACU market this quarter”

  • 4 February 2026 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has issued an updated version of the interface specification IBIR-006, due to certain errors that were identified.

These included:

? The maximum record length (increase from 5000 to 6000 characters)

? The number of occurrences of the values of the amounts pertaining to Two Pot transfers, when transferring before retirement on Form A&D (decrease from 4 to 1).

Trade testing dates remain as communicated. This commences on 09 February 2026 and will run until 12 March 2026. The final software implementation is planned for April 2026.

  • 04 February 2026 – President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday, 05 February 2026, undertake a visit to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) National Command Centre in Brooklyn, Pretoria.

The visit forms part of a broader engagement with key government institutions, including the Ministry of Finance and National Treasury, aimed at demonstrating SARS’ progress and showcasing its modernisation initiatives. SARS was established in terms of the South African Revenue Service Act, 1997 (Act No. 34 of 1997) to function as an autonomous agency responsible for administering South Africa’s tax system and customs service.

During the visit, the President will participate in a walkabout of exhibitions showcasing the work of various SARS business units, including Customs, Taxpayer Engagement, and the Modernisation and Innovation Hub. The President will be briefed on the operations and ongoing modernisation of the National Command Centre, which is designed to monitor tax compliance, revenue collection, and key operational metrics in real time. The President will also deliver a keynote address and interact with SARS staff members. The Visit will take place as follows:

Date: Thursday, 05 February 2026

Time: 10h30

Live stream: https://bit.ly/3M69Txi

Note to media: Due to space limitations, a media pool is in place for the visit. The keynote address will be live streamed on all Presidency and SARS social media platforms. For further information, contact SARSMedia@sars.gov.za.

NATIONAL TREASURY

ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)

SOUTH AFRICAN LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE (SAFLII)

AFRICAN TAX ADMINISTRATION FORUM (ATAF)

AuthorLegal and Policy
DivisionTax
Categories
Legal and Policy
Date5 February 2026