The SA Revenue Service has clarified its position after confusion over the abolishment of the ad valorem duty on PCs, which was due to come into effect on 1 April but has yet to be gazetted.
Customs spokesman Christo Van Wyk says the tax was due to be scrapped on 1 April, but this had not been done as it had not been signed by deputy finance minister Mandisi Mpahlwa and had yet to be gazetted.
"The deputy minister signed the notice for the scrapping of the 5% ad valorem excise duty on the importing of PCs and some other office equipment today. It now has to be gazetted and will then come into effect."
Van Wyk says importers will be entitled to claim back the tax paid on imports from 1 April once the notice has been gazetted.
PCs, external modems, telephonic equipment, calculating and accounting machines, automatic data processing machines, typewriters and word processing machines will not be liable for payment of the ad valorem duties once this has happened. Parts of facsimile transmission apparatus will remain liable to payment of ad valorem duties.
Finance minister Trevor Manuel said in his budget speech that the tax was scrapped to benefit both business and consumers investing in IT.
The effects of the scrapping of the tax appear to be immediate, with Dell South Africa announcing today that it has reduced its prices with immediate effect.
The new price structure sees a 5% reduction in the Latitude and Inspiron range of notebooks, as well as PowerEdge servers and OptiPlex desktops.
The tax on PCs was heavily criticised as it was difficult to manage and allowed a window for parts and components to be used to sidestep the tax.
The tax only brought government R572 million out of a total estimated revenue stream of R325 billion for the year, and represented a tiny fraction of the R15.1 billion in tax exemptions granted by government.
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