SARS Is Changing the Rules for Non-Compliant Taxpayers in South Africa — What SMEs Must Know in 2025
SARS Is Coming — But This Time It Might Work in Your Favour
If your business has unresolved customs or excise defaults with SARS, ignoring them is no longer a viable strategy. SARS has published draft rules designed to make it easier for non-compliant taxpayers to regularise past defaults — and that window of opportunity will not stay open indefinitely. For South African SMEs that have fallen behind on customs or excise obligations, this development matters more than almost anything else on your compliance calendar right now.
What SARS Has Actually Proposed
SARS released draft rules that aim to streamline the process by which taxpayers can bring themselves back into good standing after customs and excise defaults. The move signals a deliberate shift in approach: rather than pursuing enforcement as the first resort, SARS is creating a structured pathway for businesses to voluntarily regularise their affairs.
This is not an amnesty programme. SARS is not writing off what is owed. What the draft rules appear to offer is a clearer, more accessible process — reduced procedural friction — for taxpayers who want to come forward and sort out their outstanding obligations before SARS comes to them. The distinction matters enormously. A taxpayer who approaches SARS proactively sits in a fundamentally different legal and financial position than one who waits to be audited or prosecuted.
The draft rules have been published for comment, which means the final version may differ. But the direction of travel is clear: SARS wants compliant taxpayers on its books, and it is willing to make it somewhat easier to get there — for now.
Who Is Affected by These Changes
The draft rules focus specifically on customs and excise defaults. That means businesses involved in importing goods, exporting products, manufacturing excisable goods, or operating under any kind of customs licence or permit are in the frame. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Importers and exporters using South African ports of entry
- Manufacturers of tobacco, alcohol, fuel, or other excisable products
- Clearing agents and freight forwarders operating under SARS customs registration
- Retailers or distributors who have received goods that were not correctly cleared at the border
If your business sits anywhere in that chain and you have outstanding declarations, underpayments, or procedural violations in your customs or excise history, these draft rules are directly relevant to you.
SMEs often underestimate their customs exposure. A business that imports raw materials or components — even occasionally — can accumulate technical defaults without realising it. Incorrect tariff classifications, undervaluation of imported goods, or missed deadlines for excise returns are common examples. These are exactly the kinds of defaults the new rules aim to address.
The Consequences of Staying Non-Compliant
Before anyone dismisses this as bureaucratic noise, it is worth being direct about what non-compliance with SARS customs and excise obligations actually means in practice.
SARS has broad enforcement powers. Under the Customs and Excise Act, it can levy penalties, charge interest on unpaid duties, seize goods, suspend or revoke customs licences, and refer cases for criminal prosecution. Penalties for customs violations can reach several times the value of the underpaid duty. In serious cases, directors and owners of close corporations can face personal liability — your business structure does not automatically protect you.
Beyond direct financial penalties, a poor Tax Compliance Status (TCS) affects your ability to do business. Banks, large corporates, and government entities routinely check TCS before entering contracts or releasing payments. A business with unresolved SARS defaults cannot obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate — which means losing tenders, being locked out of supplier databases, and in some cases being unable to process foreign exchange transactions above certain thresholds.
The cost of staying non-compliant compounds over time. Interest accrues. Penalties accumulate. And SARS's data capabilities are improving rapidly — the probability of detection is higher today than it was five years ago. Waiting is rarely the cheaper option.
What the Draft Rules Mean for Your Compliance Strategy
The publication of draft rules is a signal as much as it is a policy document. SARS is telling the market that it knows non-compliance exists, that it wants voluntary regularisation, and that it is prepared to facilitate that process. Businesses that act during this window — before the rules are finalised and enforcement ramps up — are in the strongest possible position.
Voluntary disclosure under a structured process typically results in significantly better outcomes than being caught through audit or investigation. SARS's existing Voluntary Disclosure Programme (VDP) already offers reduced penalties and protection from prosecution for taxpayers who come forward before SARS initiates action. The new draft rules appear to extend or complement that approach specifically for customs and excise.
The key principle here is simple: first mover advantage is real in tax compliance. Once SARS opens an audit or issues a notice, the voluntary pathway closes.
What South African SMEs Should Do Right Now
If any of the above applies to your business, here is what you should be doing — not eventually, now.
Step 1: Check your own Tax Compliance Status on SARS eFiling. Log in to your eFiling profile and pull your current TCS. This tells you immediately whether SARS has flagged your account as non-compliant. It does not tell you the full picture of any underlying defaults, but it is your starting point. If your status is not green, you have outstanding matters that need professional attention.
Step 2: Pull your customs and excise transaction history. If your business imports, exports, or manufactures excisable goods, retrieve your full transaction history from your clearing agent and cross-reference it against your SARS customs records. Discrepancies between what was declared and what was assessed are the most common source of defaults.
Step 3: Engage a registered tax practitioner or customs specialist immediately. This is not a step you should take alone. Customs and excise law in South Africa is technical — tariff classifications alone require specialist knowledge. A registered tax practitioner or a customs consultant registered with SARS can assess your exposure, quantify your liability, and advise on whether voluntary disclosure is the right route. They can also represent you in any engagement with SARS.
Step 4: Watch the draft rules closely. The final rules may include deadlines, specific procedures, or qualifying conditions. Your tax practitioner should be tracking this. If you do not have one, get one before the rules are finalised.
Step 5: Do not wait for SARS to contact you. If you have reason to believe there are outstanding matters on your customs or excise account, assume SARS will find them. The question is whether you address them first or SARS does — and the answer to that question has significant financial and legal consequences.
Your VAT and Tax Compliance Obligations Do Not Exist in Isolation
Customs and excise compliance sits alongside your broader SARS obligations — VAT, PAYE, income tax, provisional tax. A business that has customs defaults often has related VAT exposure, because the duty value of imported goods affects the VAT calculation at the border. Sorting out one without reviewing the other is a common and expensive mistake.
If you are unsure where your business stands across its full SARS obligations, our VAT compliance guide is a useful starting point for understanding how VAT interacts with your other tax duties in South Africa.
Get Connected with the Right Specialist
ClearComply does not file your taxes, review your SARS standing, or manage your customs obligations — and we will not pretend otherwise. What we do is connect South African SMEs with the right professionals to handle exactly these situations.
If you have read this article and recognised that your business may have customs or excise defaults, or if you simply want to understand your exposure before SARS makes contact, tell us what you need. We will connect you with a registered tax practitioner or customs specialist who can give you an honest assessment and a clear path forward.
Do not wait for the audit letter. Get ahead of it.